A Traveler in a Strange World
by MrsGrizzley
Summary: A new character joins the story, starting about three years before Vaan starts his adventure in Rabanastre, follows the game step by step with some direct dialogue quotes. Rewrites halted. Better ideas in Crossover Reset version.
1. Chapter 1

Notes: The character I'm introducing into the events on Ivalice might rightly be described as a Mary Sue. I am aware of this, though I have gone out of my way to minimize the annoyance factor. She's a character I've had for a lot of years, so she's got literally decades of history behind her. Most of it isn't going to be necessary so I'll try to keep the backstory to important and pertinant details. I have, in the past, successfully managed to write a Mary Sue that was also incredibly entertaining, just ask the readers on the Scroll of Colors discussion forum for Elfquest ( about HalfElven (coming soon to this environment, as soon as I get the files figured out) . As I mentioned in the scene I posted last week, I haven't finished the game yet, but this story seems to be developing alongside my understanding of the game, so it should work out well.

Let me know what you think, I live for reader response.

* * *

A Traveler in a Strange World

by Mrs. Grizzley

Larsa found the entrance. The dark haired hume boy was barely eleven years of age, and strangely caught between being very boyish and being mature beyond his years. He was the youngest son of the Emperor of the Archadian Empire, raised since infancy for leadership and political intrigue, not to mention martial valor.

This particular afternoon Larsa was out for a picnic with his elder, and only surviving, brother – Vayne. Like Larsa, Vayne was dark haired, but he was grown almost to adulthood and was breathtakingly handsome, whereas Larsa was merely adorable. There had been two brothers older still, but Vayne had seen to their deaths for treason.

In any event, it was during some supervised exploring that Larsa found the hidden doorway that led to a tunnel that opened into a huge cavern that was flooded with natural sunlight and filled to the ceiling with plants and trees and flowing brooks.

Upon seeing this paradisiacal glory Larsa, who was still a child, ran forward in excitement, escaping his brother's grasp and that of their guardsmen. With a laugh of delight, he took off running through the trees.

And ran right into her.

A girl, maybe three years older than Larsa – perhaps fourteen years of age – dressed in a strange garment that molded itself to her body from elbows to knees in rich blue and green. She had bright, golden blonde hair and a streak of white flowing through it. Wing-shaped earrings dangled from her ears and at her throat sat a necklace of a bird-in-flight. But most astonishing were her eyes – exactly the color of molten gold. She carried no visible weapon and seemed as surprised by Larsa as Larsa was by her.

Then the guardsmen came upon them and Vayne in the lead.

The girl looked up at Vayne and her eyes widened in surprise, and perhaps something else as she grabbed Larsa's wrist and pulled him around behind her, placing herself between Larsa and his brother. "You can't have him. I won't let you hurt him." There was a moment of stunned silence. "I swear it. If you try to hurt him I'll kill you."

The guardsmen didn't know what to say or to do – they all looked at Vayne, who struggled to restrain a smile that seemed to want to spread across his face. He bowed, instead, to the girl. "My lady," he said, using his most charming manner, "I assure you, I mean the lad no harm. I am his brother."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "That's not very reassuring. My experience with brothers is about like my experience with fathers – not altogether positive."

Larsa quickly stepped back around her and took both her hands in his. She looked at him and smiled, almost involuntarily. "His words are true." Larsa told her, "I swear this to you. Let us prove ourselves." Her expression softened further. Larsa took that as proof that his words were working and decided to change the subject. "Do you live here?" The distraction seemed to work and soon the girl was giving them all the grand tour, accompanied by the guardsmen, naturally.

She showed them where she slept, the trees she climbed for fruit, and the places where she dug for roots. She showed them her swinging vines and her swimming pond.

"How long have you been here?" Vayne asked.

She shrugged, still wary of him. "I am not sure. A long time. I lost track."

"What is your name?" Larsa wanted to know.

She sighed. "I can't remember, Little One. There hasn't been anyone to call me by one."

"Not a one? You are all alone here?"

"Until now, Little One."

The sun had started to sink in the sky outside the cavern and the light within to darken into evening. "Larsa," Vayne called, "it is time to depart."

Larsa looked back at his brother. "But we can't leave her here all alone again. It would not be right."

"Have you asked her about it? You are speaking of taking her from her home."

Larsa turned pleading eyes onto the girl. "Please come to our home with us. You can be my sister and I can show you the world beyond this cavern. There are so many things I want to show you."

The girl looked stunned. "Your sister . . ."

Vayne quirked an eyebrow at the offer of adoption. He had a few suspicions about this girl – having her so close would provide ample opportunity for observation.

Larsa continued. "I know that you said that you had not had much in the way of luck with brothers, but luck can change." He paused for a moment, "and I don't have any other sisters."

She smiled at him, softly. "I don't believe I've had a little brother like you before." He smiled, hopeful, at her. She took a deep breath. "I would need a name. If I were to be your sister."

Larsa crowed joyously.

* * *

Later, in private audience with the Emperor, Vayne spoke with their father as he had promised Larsa that he would. "Larsa wishes your personal approval of this adoption."

"And your thoughts?"

"Her first act was to place herself between Larsa and a perceived threat. I am impressed both by her instincts and by her endurance of long isolation. Larsa wants her for a sister and you have no other daughters. At the least, we know where her loyalties lie. If you wished, you could say that it is Larsa who is doing the adopting, with your blessing."

The Emperor thought a moment. "Very well. I would meet this girl my sons wish for me to call Daughter."

* * *

The girl was ushered into audience with the Emperor by guardsmen who then left her to stand outside the doors. The Emperor sat on his throne behind a table and beckoned her forward. "Come here, young lady."

She stepped forward. "Yes, sir?"

He frowned slightly. "I am no mere knight."

She flushed. "I am aware of that, your – excellency? eminence? dominance?" She appeared to be searching for a word that would not be found. "I am untutored in the proper forms of address, your Imperial Majesty."

A corner of his mouth quirked in what might have been a smile. "So I am given to understand. My youngest son wishes for me to grant you the title Imperial Daughter."

She flushed a deeper red. "That would be a great honor." He could almost see the change in her thinking as his word choice registered. Did this girl carry her thoughts on her face? "Youngest? But that term implies at least three . . . I thought there was only Vayne and Larsa." She looked up at the Emperor and turned the exact red of his robes. "Begging your pardon, Emperor."

Again, his mouth formed what might have been the ghost of a smile. "You have been away from other humes a long time."

She nodded. "But I have always been apt to try to eat my feet with ill-considered speech. I am not practiced in discretion or politesse. I am blunt and on occasion rude. I just thought that you would rather know my faults at the outset."

"You show remarkable self awareness."

"I am all that I appear to be – I just do not appear to be all that I am." She looked strangely uncomfortable, as if she were spilling secrets and regretted it.

"Explain yourself." His tone was commanding, and would not be refused.

She sighed. "I am everything you see. I am rude, and crude, and utterly barbaric. I am the foolish barbarian child who speaks the truth because I can and because I am not supposed to know any better. I adore Larsa, your younger son. I would do anything to protect him . . . and under other circumstances, my resources would be enormous. As a result of my confinement in the cavern, though, I am left with only myself. If you take me into your household, name me Daughter and grant me position, then I will be grateful for your uncommon generosity and you will gain the benefit of a tame barbarian in your court to speak what others will not so that you may judge response. I doubt that you will lose in this." She paused, and then continued. "But I have a past, and secrets that I hide, and should that past, or those secrets become threatened, or a threat, I will do what I must to protect Larsa even to the surrendering of my life." She looked up to meet the Emperor's gaze. "But I swear, should that come about, I will tell you all, or at the least all that you would understand."

The Emperor nodded solemnly. "Very well," he said, accepting her sworn oath, "Daughter."

* * *

Larsa and his recently adopted sister stood looking at a large, illuminated map of Ivalice, their world. The young prince had spent several delightful weeks introducing his sister to the Imperial City, Archades, and all the wonders it held.

This day, though, they studied maps. "So this is what you named me after." There was a note of wonder in her voice.

He nodded. "Isn't she pretty?" He pointed to a large area on the map. "This is us, the Archadian Empire, to the north and east. This," he pointed to another large portion of the map, "is the Rozarrian Empire, to the south and west. They are not our friends."

Ivalice nodded. "Competing superpowers rarely are. And right in the middle . . ."

"Are the kingdoms of Nabradia and Dalmasca."

"An unenviable position, that, being the only buffer between two unfriendly Empires. Have they allied to each other?"

"They are sisters, their royalty descended from the sons of the Dynast-King."

"So it's an old alliance, or an old enmity, knowing some families. Which is it for them?"

"Old alliance. One which may flower anew. Dalmasca's royal daughter and Nabradia's royal son are of similar age."

Ivalice sighed, sounding ages old for a moment. "Alliance marriages are difficult. Loveless ones, even more so."

They were silent for a moment. Larsa broke the silence with a shrug. "There is talk of bringing both countries under our guidance in any event."

"That would be stupid." Ivalice was harshly blunt.

Larsa blinked in surprise. "Why?"

"They are the only buffer you have. If you absorb them, then Rozarria has to move to defend her borders. The Empire doesn't want to share a border with an unfriendly, competitive superpower."

"You are truly insightful." Vayne stepped into the room from a shadowed doorway. He smiled as Ivalice stepped between him and Larsa. "One might question how a girl of your tender years and long isolation came by such wisdom, but no matter. The Empire may not want a shared border, but she might not have a choice. If Archadia does not gather Dalmasca and Nabradia, then Rozarria will."

After Vayne left, the conversation drifted from geo-political explanations to the governmental arrangements of the Empire – having both Emperor and Senate.

* * *

Larsa found Ivalice in her room, some months – almost a year in fact – later, packing a bag as quickly at she could gather her few important things. "What are you doing?"

"I'm running away, what does it look like I'm doing?" There was a note of hysteria to her voice. She threw a garment into her bag.

"Running away? Why?" Larsa was stunned.

Ivalice sat down abruptly. "Long explanation or short one, Little Brother? Doctor Cid has started looking at me lately and if I don't leave, tonight, I won't be able to escape him and I won't be any man's experiment ever again." She burst into tears and Larsa awkwardly sat down beside her, trying to offer comfort.

"What happened?"

She took a deep breath. "I'm a Traveler, or, I'm supposed to be one. I've got powers, telekinetic, telepathic, Illusion-skills, teleportation and so on, but they've been sealed so I can't use them and I don't know why. This isn't the first time I've been in child guise, I suppose if you placed all my lifetimes end to end I would be older than the Empire itself, nor the first time I didn't know the world when I entered it, but the last time this happened, the last time I found myself in a world I didn't know, things went bad. Very bad." Her body started shuddering in remembered pain.

"Tell me, Sister." He sounded bigger than he felt.

"I entered the world because I was running from grief. I had gone mad, and recovered from it, but the scars lingered, and still do. I wanted to be someone new for a change. I could, as a Traveler, cause myself to take shape in a woman's quickened womb and be literally born as a sibling to her child. I found a woman who was going to conceive. She was a good woman, in love with a good man, her guardsman as a matter of fact, and I thought it would be pleasant to be their child. I entered her body to await conception and watched helpless as they fought – something about the death of his father – and she ran to another man for a time. My brother and I were born to the wrong father." She took a deep breath, gathering courage.

"I was unprepared because I didn't know the world, and I wasn't talking with my one information source. I call her The Mother even though she's not one and we aren't really getting along right now. In any event, I was unprepared to defend my brother when we became yet another experiment to the scientists our mother worked for.

"An interloper came into the womb we shared, and tried to change us. I still had my power, enough to protect myself, but my brother was defenseless. I went dormant within our womb as my brother developed and was ultimately born and stolen by our scientist father.

"I was born years later. Mother had become entombed in a crystal and when I was born I transported myself, aged to a crawling tot, to a distant field where my brother trained. He found me and took me in, and then discovered that I was his full sister. He'd been told that his mother died at his birth.

"I tried . . . oh how I tried to keep him from becoming a monster. I knew that it was going to happen, but because I wasn't talking to The Mother, I didn't know where or when. It's ironic really, the more I didn't speak with my Mother, the more he listened to his. I thought for a while that it was my fault, that my choosing him had infected him with my madness." She sighed. "It would have happened anyway, but I didn't know that, then.

"When it finally happened, he abandoned me to our natural father, a scientist to whom all living beings were simply experiments to be manipulated. I was forced to help him with his experiments, until I helped two men escape and then joined the one's quest to hunt down and destroy my brother."

She clenched her fists on her knees. "I would have followed him into the depths of Hell itself, if only he had come back for me." She made herself relax her hands and tears fell down her face. "Never again. I saw Hojo's eyes in Cid's face, watching me, measuring me. As I am now, limited and shackled, unless I run now I won't be able to escape. And I can't protect you if I'm a scientist's playpretty."

"I can protect you, Sister. Vayne can protect you."

"No. You'll understand, someday, but I've got to run so they can't use you against me." She looked at him, a fond expression on her face. "I would do anything to protect you."

"Where will you go?"

She sighed. "Nabradia or Dalmasca, don't know which, yet. You can't tell anyone, though, not even Vayne."

"Not even Vayne?" The very idea seemed incredible, disturbing.

Larsa idealized his older brother. Ivalice felt her heart squeeze at the thought. She had loved her Nii-sama that same way. "No," she said, dissembling slightly about her concerns, "he would try to bring me back here. You know he would."

Larsa nodded reluctantly. "But the invasion. You will be walking into a war zone."

"Better a war zone than the Imperial Palace with Doctor Cid on the loose." She grinned, forcing the expression to relieve Larsa's worries. "If I hurry I might be there for the wedding."

Larsa sighed. "How can I help?"

* * *

The next morning Larsa woke to the sounds of quiet confusion in the Palace. By midmorning no less than a dozen guards had asked him if he had seen his sister. By noon he was called in to see his father.

The Emperor sat at his desk and looked at Larsa, who looked back at him, unafraid. "Yes, Father?"

"Your sister is nowhere to be found and as she dotes upon you so obviously it is thought that you might know where she is."

"She is gone, Father." Larsa couldn't keep the catch of restrained tears out of his voice. "She left last night."

The Emperor was silent for a long moment. "Why did she leave?"

"She was in fear for her life and freedom, Father. She left me a letter that I was to give to you," he pulled a sealed envelope from his vest and placed it on the desk, pushing it softly to the Emperor.

He took the letter and quietly opened it. For a time there was only the sound of rustling paper as he read. Then he set it down and covered his eyes wearily. "Did your sister tell you the cause of her fear?"

"Some, Father. She said that no one could protect her. She also named one with ready access to the Palace and hinted that I would also be threatened unless she fled." He almost sounded angry, not at his sister, but that he would be helpless to defend someone in need of such defense.

"Very well. We have much to discuss if we are to maintain the fiction that she is still here."

* * *

… _For the Senate, tell them what you will, though I would rather that you not tell them that I am dead. I do not intend to stay away forever, and I sincerely wish to return one day. For the Judges, instruct them that unless I make myself known to them, they are to ignore me. For Vayne, I wish him told nothing, if possible. I do not trust him in the least._

_I fear one day that I may have no choice but to destroy him to protect Larsa. He seems too much like my Nii-sama for my comfort. I do not wish the guilt that burdens me on my Nii-chan._

_Thank you so much for all your generosity towards a foundling such as me. You cannot know how much it means to me. Please forgive me, and know that I still hold to my oath. This I do to protect Larsa, who should one day be Emperor after you._

_As much as I regret the necessity, I have spoken with The Mother, and she assures me that Larsa and I will meet again one day, but she offers few assurances beyond that. . . _

_Your dutiful Daughter, Ivalice Goldeneyes Solidor_


	2. Chapter 2

Final Fantasy XII Traveler: Part Two

Compared to the Imperial City of Archades, Rabanastre, Dalmasca's capitol, was positively provincial. Ivalice smiled, though as she stepped through the gates and into the joyous, hopeful bustle of a city preparing to celebrate a royal wedding. She took a deep breath, filling herself with that hope. Here she would find a way to break her shackles so that she could return to her Nii-chan.

With a bounce in her step, Ivalice set out to explore the city, just as a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way of a wagon drawn by chocobo – a giant chicken-like creature. "Careful there."

Ivalice looked up into a pair of eyes that seemed to smile at her. It took a moment to see that the eyes belonged to a man in armor. Not a city guard, but a true Knight, with blond hair and a short neatly trimmed blond beard. He looked to be in his early thirties and Ivalice had to struggle to catch her breath. "Th-thank you."

"You have recently arrived in the city, have you?"

She nodded, recovering slightly. "Just didn't expect to meet a knight in shining armor quite so quickly."

He laughed and then bowed briefly to her. "I am Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg, at your service."

"I'm Ivalice. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She looked around slightly. "Are you very busy at the moment?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if you could show me around some. I get lost easily and I'd hate to have to call upon another Knight in Shining Armor when I have one right in front of me."

He frowned slightly. "In truth, I was seeing to some supplies . . ."

"Could I help, then?"

"What, a child such as you?"

Ivalice felt her stomach sink. Of course he would only see a fifteen-year-old child. She smiled pleadingly at him. "Please?"

After a moment he nodded. "Very well."

* * *

By the end of the day they were fast friends, and he had introduced her to several of the merchants around town, including one Migelo, who turned out to be a kindly bangaa – one of the non-hume races common in Ivalice.

He had also introduced her to the others in the Order of Knights. Apparently her name, while unusual, was not rare enough to excite comment. Her eyes on the other hand . . . .

One of the Knights whistled softly. "That is an extraordinary pair of eyes on your young friend, Captain."

Basch turned to look at Ivalice right as she felt her heart skip. She couldn't let herself be found out. She'd lose all chance and finding a place of her own in this city where she could be trusted. "Why do you say that?" Basch asked.

"I heard tell that the daughter of the Emperor has eyes like that."

Ivalice forced a playful grimace on her face. "And here I was, thinking that I was the only one." The room filled with laughter and Ivalice carefully let out the breath that she was almost holding. Catastrophe averted.

* * *

The wedding day dawned beautifully. Ivalice made certain that she was in place to see the procession well ahead of time. Basch had left the day before with a contingent of soldiers to support Nabudis, the capital of Nabradia. Ivalice couldn't stop worrying about them – Nabudis was in the line of attack for the Empire.

The wedding procession made its way through the city towards the cathedral, and the ceremony. Ivalice watched carefully for the nuptial carriage and had to stifle a gasp at what she saw. This was no loveless alliance – this was a true love match. Tears sprang to her eyes, though, when she saw, as clearly as the voice of The Mother shouting at her, the doom of tragedy upon them.

Midday saw the survivors of the fall of Nabudis return. Afternoon saw the soldiers of Dalmasca depart for Nalbina. By next dawn joy had turned to grief and hope to tears as the survivors returned – Basch bearing the fallen body of Lord Rastler. The newlywed princess was a widow at seventeen.

Ivalice watched through a haze of tears as the Knights – led by Basch – planned a counterattack. The Empire's Terms of Surrender arrived with the news of their utter failure.

It was a sorrowful procession that left Rabanastre with their King to go to occupied Nalbina to sign the surrender. Ivalice felt helpless as she watched the last chocobo leave. She wasn't prepared for the shout of warning from the back of her mind.

* * *

Basch led the weary survivors back to Rabanastre in defeat. The taste of it set his teeth on edge and left a bitter tang in his mouth. He barely looked up from his chocobo's head in time to see Ivalice standing in the middle of the street. He jerked on the reins and saw her reach out and grab hold of them, stopping the chocobo.

"What do you mean by this?" he asked, not quite shouting.

"Forgive me, I have no choice. You have to ride for Nalbina and you have to leave right now!"

"Explain yourself, child."

Gosh darn it, would he never stop thinking of her as a child? "I have an information source – an incorruptible source. She's whimsical and sometimes temperamental, but what she tells me is truth. The Empire is going to kill King Raminas at the treaty signing!"

Chocobos reared in response to their riders' sudden terror. Basch couldn't believe his ears for a moment. "If you are lying . . ."

"I will surrender my neck to your sword. I swear to you, as of this moment the King is alive – he can stay that way if you get to him in time." She let go of her hold on the chocobo.

Basch turned full circle before he was able to control the animal again. He motioned to the others. "We ride for Nalbina!"

"I'll see to the wagons," Ivalice volunteered, "Please, just hurry! Our Princess is already a widow. I don't want to see her made an orphan, too."

Basch nodded and quickly saluted her with his sword. Their eyes met for a brief moment and Basch could read only honesty in them. For a long time, the memory of those eyes and the honesty he had seen there as she stood on the sorrowful street with wagons of wounded soldiers rolled by her was all that kept him sane.

* * *

Ivalice couldn't stop crying as she sat in a room above Migelo's shop with a copy of the proclamation in her hands. Migelo stood nearby, at a loss for words.

Marquis Halim Ondore IV, I, to the people of Dalmasca:

"Sons and Daughters of Dalmasca. I bid you lay down your Arms. Raise Songs of Prayer in their Stead. Prayer for His Majesty King Raminas, ever merciful. A Man wholly devoted to Peace.

"Prayer, too, for the noble Princess Ashe, who, wrought with Grief at her Kingdom's Defeat, has taken her own life.

"Know also that Capt. Basch fon Ronsenburg, for Incitement of Sedition and the Assassination of HRM King Raminas, has been found Guilty of High Treason and put to his Death.

"They who at this late hour choose still the Sword are cut of the same Cloth as the Capt.: Traitors who would lead Dalmasca to her Ruin."

Migelo started to try again. "I know you were close to the Captain. . ."

Ivalice sniffled loudly. "I can tell you this, for certain, the Princess isn't dead." Migelo looked startled. "That was a neat stunt, though, throwing Vayne off her track like that. As long as he thinks she's dead he won't be trying to kill her." She sniffled again as the tears fell faster. "But the Captain . . . Captain Basch is almost certainly dead. The Empire has no reason to keep him alive. Especially if he didn't actually do this."

"But young Reks . . ."

She shook her head. "Something isn't right with his story. I don't question him, just his story. Besides, I know of at least half a dozen ways to make it appear that someone has done something they haven't done. Especially if the witness hasn't actually seen the deed done – and sometimes even if they have."

"What will you do now?"

Ivalice tried to smile at Migelo, and failed charmingly. "What any other orphan of Rabanastre does – run errands for you and try as best as I can to survive."

* * *

Two years is a long time for a man to be left alone with his memories, abandoned by the world and believed dead. Basch fon Ronsenburg hung, chained, in a cage below the dungeons below Nalbina Fortress. For two years he wondered if he had been betrayed by a girl with golden eyes.

Every day he replayed his memory of those few days of their friendship. Every day he searched them for some clue, some hint of deceit. Every day he found himself remembering the honesty in her gaze as he left her at the gates of Rabanastre.

He remembered every detail. The way her lips tightened in frustration when he called her "child". The way her breath caught when someone commented on her eyes and the Imperial Princess. He wondered why he hadn't seen it before.

He wondered at the circumstances that put the Imperial Princess in the path of the Imperial Army. And on their enemy's side.

She wanted to see the wedding and he believed her. She wanted to help and he believed her. She said that she was his friend and he believed her. She warned him about a threat to his king and he believed her.

He remembered the way her eyes had looked that last time – and wondered if her honesty had been used to deceive.


	3. Chapter 3

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Part Three

Two years changes a lot of things. The bustling city of Rabanastre was now occupied territory about to welcome (coughcough) the arrival of a new Consul, none other than Vayne Solidor, the son of the Emperor. Ivalice had managed to make a place for herself among the other war orphans, and a couple of friends – fellow orphans Vaan and Penelo.

Vaan dreamed of being a sky pirate and the freedom to go where he wanted when he wanted. He dreamed of a restored Dalmasca. In the meantime, he dreamed of stealing back from the Imperials what they took from Dalmascans. Penelo, though, dreamed of Vaan, and the leadership he showed among the other orphans. If he didn't end up dead or imprisoned first.

If Ivalice dreamed, she didn't talk about it. The others wouldn't understand how freedom could be its own prison, how power was sometimes more trouble than it was worth, or how much she missed a little brother she had only known a year.

Unfortunately, Vaan was being more determined than ever to get himself in more trouble than he could keep his head above. After Vayne's procession, and the speech that Ivalice had no interest in listening to, Vaan had cooked up a half-baked plan, and was actually going through with it.

Ivalice spotted Penelo heading towards the South Gate. "Hey, Penelo, heading out into the Giza Plains?"

Penelo smiled sheepishly. "I thought I'd visit some people, why?"

"Mind if I come along? We might meet up with Vaan."

Penelo raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know that?"

Ivalice smiled. "I have my sources." She laughed. "I spoke to Old Dalan. He said that he'd sent Vaan to get a sunstone. If we hurry, we can get there before he does."

As it turned out, Vaan got there first, but they caught him while he was still there and he didn't argue too vehemently about their joining him.

--

With sunstone in hand, the three went back to Lowtown, beneath Rabanastre. Penelo took her leave outside Old Dalan's place, with a plea to Vaan to be careful. His murmured apology was almost too low for Ivalice to hear. When she didn't move to leave, Vaan looked at her. "Why are you still here?"

"I think you're up to something and I want in on it."

"Could be dangerous."

"Good, I can watch your back. Look, I'm not trying to stop you. Just lemme come along."

Finally, Vaan nodded. "Alright, let's go talk to Old Dalan."

---

What Vaan was doing was sneaking into the Palace through the underground Garamscythe Waterway. It meant hacking their way through rats, and bats, and even a few nasty fish. Their goal, though, wasn't just the Palace during the inaugural fete, it was the Palace treasure room, and that meant distracting guards to get a clear run for the secret passage.

Once inside the treasure room, Vaan was the one who found the strangely glowing stone. Ivalice felt a cold tremor in her heart when she saw it. That stone was going to be trouble, but there was no parting Vaan from his prize.

But then a pair of sky pirates showed up, and then guards, and in running from them Vaan and Ivalice found themselves in the middle of a pitched battle as Resistance forces tried to fight their way through.

Between the soldiers, the guards, the Resistance, and the airship taking potshots and everyone somehow the four of them, Vaan, Ivalice, Balthier, the sky pirate, and his viera partner Fran (viera were a form of rabbit-woman mix in stiletto heels) ended up back in the Garamscythe Waterway, trying to make their way through bats, toads, ghosts, and imps to civilization again.

Along the way, they picked up a guest, of sorts, to their little group, a Resistance leader who gave her name as Amalia. Ivalice had to cover a smile. She'd been right. The princess wasn't dead. But remembering the princess brought back other memories as well, and Ivalice tried very hard not to let the others see her tears.

At the end of the Waterway, though, was not freedom and glory with their hard-won spoils. The five of them were surrounded by Archadian soldiers. Ivalice felt a moment of panic when she saw Vayne among them. She stuck to the back of the group and tried to keep someone between her and him at all times.

Balthier looked curiously at her, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Don't let him see me, please." She barely whispered.

Balthier shrugged and took an accidental-on-purpose step in front of her just as Vayne looked their way. But then Penelo appeared and Balthier had to distract her. For a brief moment Ivalice was completely exposed.

She felt more than heard the shattering of the seal on part of her powers. A small part – but even the smallest touch of her Illusion skills would help right now. She concentrated on seeming completely ordinary, on convincing all the minds around her that she was absolutely unremarkable, not worth noticing. It worked. Ivalice saw Vayne's eyes pass right over her without pausing.

Just to be safe, she kept up the illusion until after the four of them were deposited in the Nalbina Dungeons. Amalia was taken somewhere else.

---

Vayne watched Judge Gabranth enter his office. "You called for me, your Excellency?"

"I need you to do a favor. When you go to Nalbina to question our guest there, I need you to do so as visibly as possible. I want you to be seen by those kept there."

"Excellency?" Gabranth was curious.

"I believe that I saw my wayward sister in a group I sent to Nalbina. When I looked back to be certain, she was gone. I need to know if she was there. I need to know if she is presenting abilities outside the realm of magick. And I need her to know that if she wishes rescue that it is available."

"If I see her?"

"Be visible. My father's command is still in effect."

Gabranth saluted and then left.

---

Balthier looked up from where he sat, Vaan having charged off to explore. "I wondered where you had gone."

"Hide in plain sight. I had no choice."

"Speaking of that, just why were you trying to disappear so desperately?"

"Vayne Solidor. He knows my face. I'd rather he not know that I was here."

"Ahh, sounds like it would be an interesting story, but . . ."

" . . . but right now, I'm worried about Vaan. There are some real unsavory types here."

"Then, by all means, let us find him, before something untoward happens."

Balthier and Ivalice found Vaan right in time to pull his hide out of a fire. He was bruised, but otherwise okay. The bullies he'd taken on, though, ended up on the shorter end of that stick – before Imperial soldiers showed up accompanying some headhunters after Balthier and, of all things, an Imperial Judge Magister.

The three of them, Balthier, Ivalice, and Vaan, stood close to the edge of the walled combat arena where they had trounced the bullies. Fran appeared behind the gates and caused it to rise just enough for them to roll under it. And just in time, too, as the Judge stepped forward and their hiding spot vanished.

Fran had scented a way out – through the oubliette, though it was blocked by magicks too strong for her to break. They would have to follow the Judge until he opened it.

Ivalice caught a scrap of conversation as she followed Balthier and Fran away from the arena. "Where do you have the Captain?" "We have him in solitary . . ." A sudden, wild hope rose up in her heart, and just as quickly she quashed it. He couldn't still be alive, not after two years. Not after the Empire's, Vayne's, accusations.

On the way they found the repository where their things had been tossed. Ivalice rummaged through her bag for a pen and some paper. She quickly jotted a note, folded it and wrote a name. Then she looked up at three sets of curious eyes. She grinned.

"Vaan empties Imperial pockets. I plan on adding something to one."

Balthier lifted an eyebrow. "Just don't get us caught."

"Of course."

---

They barely made it through the closing door. There would be no turning back. Balthier quickly halted at the corner and peeked his head around. He didn't like what he saw. "There are more turnkeys than cutpurses down here."

Ivalice peeked. "No kidding. All these guards? What are they holding down here? The Treasury?"

"I've had my fill of chains. Let's tread lightly, shall we?"

He didn't have to say it twice.

It was very close a couple of times, and Ivalice found that she could extend her hide-in-plain-sight ability to cover the four of them, but only just. It tended to play a bit with their ability to see, but they got through to the oubliette gate.

They paused just out of sight as the magician accompanying the Judge opened the magickal wards on the oubliette. Ivalice nodded to the others and then cloaked herself in ordinariness long enough to tuck the note into the waistband of one of the Judge's personal guard and then creep back.

Once the Judge's party was through the gate, they followed.

---

Balthier paused the group at the ledge above the open room and they peeked over as a guard raised a cage from a pit in the floor. Ivalice saw the man in the cage and clapped both her hands over her mouth to stifle the gasp, and then turned around, sitting against the wall, tears flowing down her face. He was alive. He was alive. Balthier put a hand on Ivalice's shoulder, gently, sympathetically. She looked at him and he raised a finger to his lips and she nodded through the tears.

The Judge removed his helmet to look at Basch. Ivalice took a deep breath and turned to look again at the scene below and her eyes widened. Gabranth looked just like Basch.

"You have grown very thin, Basch."

Now Vaan figured it out. But then, he hadn't known Basch before.

Gabranth continued. "Less than a shadow. Less than a man. Sentenced to death and yet you live. Why?"

Why, indeed. Ivalice couldn't imagine why Basch would still live, especially with the chance that he could escape and put the lie to the Empire's accusations. If he hadn't done it. If he really was innocent.

"To silence Ondore. How many times must I say it?" His voice was rough and rusty, but it was still music to Ivalice's ears.

"Is that all?" Gabranth was almost snide.

Basch let a touch of anger leak through. "Why not ask Vayne himself? Is he not one of your masters?"

Gabranth felt the sting of the accusation. He decided to change his tactic. "We have caught a leader of the insurgence. She is being brought from Rabanastre. The woman Amalia." Basch reacted to the name and Ivalice had to silence another gasp. Did he know about the princess? "Who could that be?" Gabranth knew, to needle Bash like this. Basch sighed in resignation. "Such a faithful hound to cling so to a fallen kingdom."

Again, anger touched Basch's voice. "Better than throwing it away." Gabranth put his helmet back on. "Throwing it away? As you threw away our homeland?" He turned and walked away, followed by his entourage.

Balthier signaled to the rest of them and walked down towards the pit where Basch still hung in his cage. Basch had his head down, his thoughts somewhere deep in himself. Ivalice hung back, fighting the desire to run up to him and reach into his cage just to touch him. Basch must have heard their footsteps because he called out. "Who's there?"

Balthier ignored him and looked down, into the pit. "This the place?'

Fran responded. "The Mist is flowing through this room. It must be going somewhere."

Balthier was thoughtful.

Basch tried again. "You! You're no Imperials! Please, you must get me out . . ."

Ivalice bit back a sob that abruptly caused Basch to look at her, seeing her for the first time.

Balthier was almost rude. "It's against my policy to speak with the dead. Especially when they happen to be kingslayers."

Basch was emphatic, turning back to Balthier. "I did not kill him!"

Balthier, though, wasn't entirely convinced. "Is that so? Glad to hear it."

Basch turned to Ivalice, his one sympathetic audience. "Please, Ivalice, get me out of here. For the sake of Dalmasca."

Vaan, though, exploded. "You know him?" He looked at Ivalice, infuriated that someone he thought was a friend could be involved with Basch. "He killed – He killed my brother! He killed everyone! Everyone who died . . ."

"We don't know that, Vaan." Ivalice responded. "There are still too many questions . . ."

Vaan jumped up on the cage, yelling at Basch. "This is all your fault!"

Balthier looked around. "Quiet! The guards will hear."

Noises sounded from down the hallway. They had been heard. Ivalice jumped onto the cage, reaching between the bars to entwine her fingers with Basch's. He looked at her, startled. She whispered, "I never stopped being your friend."

Fran stepped towards the lever that held the cage. "I'm dropping it." She kicked the lever and chain began falling.

Balthier shook his head. "Pirates without a sky." He jumped and caught hold of the rapidly descending cage.

---

When the guards returned they found that the prisoner was gone, cage and all. One of them bent over to pick up a scrap of paper that had fallen from his companion's armor. He read the name on it and paled.

"Sir," he said, approaching the Judge, "I believe this is for you." He handed him the paper.

A glance was sufficient for the name. _Judge-Magister Gabranth_. He opened it up and read the few words.

_Tell my father that I am well._

_Tell Larsa that I miss him terribly._

_Tell Vayne that when I am ready to return to Archades, I'll be the one to let him know._

_Imperial Daughter Ivalice Solidor_

---

The cage landed with violence. Once all was still Ivalice crawled over to the door and began trying to open the lock. Balthier sighed, rolled his eyes, gently pushed her aside, and calmly picked the locks holding Basch into his prison. "Happy now?" he asked Ivalice. Her response was a heart-stopping grin.

Off to the side, Vaan seethed. He launched himself at Basch, only to be pulled away by Balthier. "Spare us your quiddities."

"Yeah, but – But he's a . . ."

"A traitor. I know. Stay here and fight, if you want." Balthier turned to Basch, who stood. "If you can walk, let's go."

Vaan was incredulous. "You're taking him with us?"

"We could use another sword arm."

Basch's response was quick. "And you have it."

Ivalice saw Basch still rubbing at his wrists. She sighed and gently took one hand from him. She unlatched the bracer and tucked it under one arm as she rubbed the wrist to restore circulation. She heard the phantasmal sound of a seal breaking and her eyes widened as bruises and discoloration faded beneath her fingertips.

"What are you doing?" Basch's voice was rough with repressed emotion.

She had just wanted to help. She hadn't expected this reward. "Apparently my healing gift is re-emerging." Teardrops fell onto his hand as she buckled the bracer back on and then reached for his other arm.

Balthier whistled low. "You are full of surprises today, aren't you?"

She shrugged. "It happens."

Basch stared at her like he was seeing her for the first time. "You can heal? This is no magick . . ."

She nodded, more teardrops falling. "I could do a lot of things that magick cannot. My gifts were stolen from me. It's complicated." She put the other bracer back on and then reached up for his reddened shoulders. "Hold still, if you can."

It was the most intoxicating sensation he had ever felt, the warmth of her hands and the easing of his aches and pains. He had to call upon every ounce of self-restraint he had to keep from surrendering to a sudden desire to embrace her. He tried reminding himself that she was only a child, an innocent child who could not possibly be aware of the effect of her actions, but these didn't feel like a child's hands.

Balthier watched with one eyebrow cocked up. He glanced over at Fran and knew that she could see what he did. This was going to be very interesting.

After a moment Ivalice let her hands drop and gave Basch a shaky smile. "You're as good to go as I can get you. I can't do anything for the muscle loss."

Basch bowed to her, remembering the hesitantly shy girl he had met two years ago. "My thanks, for your aid."

Balthier spoke up. "Well, then, if you two are finished, we need to get moving."

Ivalice blushed and fell into place in the back of the group as they began making their way through the tunnels.

---

Later, Balthier took Ivalice aside for a moment. "You know, you aren't being very subtle."

She blinked in surprise and looked up at him. "Is it that obvious?"

He nodded. "I don't know that he's noticed yet, though."

"The first time we met he called me 'child'. I don't think two years has made him revise that opinion."

"Well, then, let me assist you in altering his outlook."

Balthier was rewarded with another heart-stopping grin. And thus the flirting campaign began, though Ivalice didn't think that Balthier really needed an excuse to flirt.

---

Basch watched the way Balthier teased and flirted, in a gentlemanly way, with Ivalice, a scowl deepening on his face. She glanced towards him, and flushed at his expression, then shook her hair and threw another smile towards Balthier.

It became very apparent to Basch that Ivalice was no longer the child he had left at the gates of Rabanastre. She was fully the age that Princess Ashe had been at the time of her wedding. Old enough to be taken to wife. Though Basch doubted that Balthier was the matrimonial type.

Balthier reached out to grasp Ivalice by the waist and she danced out of his reach and Basch almost came out of his skin. How dare he? Basch forced himself to breathe calmly, and tried not to remember the touch of her hands on his chest and back, or the way her fingers had entwined with his through the bars of the cage, or the tears in her eyes as she looked at him after two years apart.

---

The group paused so that they could rest a bit, and Basch could put on some plundered equipment. It wasn't much, but it would work.

Fran wrinkled her nose. "The Mist seethes."

Balthier agreed. "It reeks." he clarified. "Something's close."

Ivalice watched Basch practice a few swings with a sword. Even with his hair pulled back, he was shaggy in the face. But she'd never favored boys with their clean faces and no character. A few lines and scars tended to improve a man's appearance, to her mind. Why couldn't he see her the way she saw him?

"Nice moves there, Captain." Balthier nodded towards Basch.

Vaan was still furious at him, though. "You mean 'traitor'."

Ivalice started to come to his defense when Balthier beat her to it. "So they say." His tone indicated a willingness to extend the courtesy of doubt. "But I didn't see him kill anyone."

"My brother did."

Ivalice pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against. "Please, Vaan, I told you before, there are still questions about that. Your brother . . ."

Basch looked closely at Vaan, seeing a connection he had missed before. "Reks." They all looked at him. "He said he had a brother two years younger. I see. He meant you. Your brother, what became . . ."

Ivalice lowered her eyes in the face of Vaan's anger. "He's dead."

Basch's sorrow was genuine. "I'm sorry."

"It was you who killed him!"

Ivalice sighed. "We don't know that . . ."

Basch silenced her with a motion. "I give you my word: that was not the way of it." The tale Basch told was painful in its simplicity. They left Reks to guard their backs and ran to the King's Chamber, to find it filled with waiting Imperials and the king already dead. His men were cut down around him and he was disarmed, held immobile by two soldiers in the shadows off to the side as Reks entered to see the bodies and a man he thought was his captain, but was not. It was Basch's twin brother, the Judge Gabranth.

Balthier spoke up. "A twin brother? Fancy that." He thought a moment. "Hmm, but still, the pieces fit. I'll give you that much. And he did look like you."

Ivalice knelt in front of where Basch sat. "I always knew that there were ways to deceive a witness. That's why I never believed . . ."

Vaan interrupted. "I don't believe you."

Basch sighed. "Of course not. It was my fault that Reks was there. I am sorry."

Ivalice stood and faced Vaan, who had his back turned. "If you need to much to blame someone, blame me. I'm the one who warned them about the plot to assassinate the King in the first place."

Vaan whirled around to face her and Balthier blinked in surprise. "And just how did you know about it to begin with?" Balthier's question was casually innocent.

"As I told the Order that day, I have an information source. She's whimsical and annoyingly unresponsive at times, but when she tells me something, it is Truth. She shouted the warning at me so loudly that my eyes crossed."

Balthier looked at her a moment. "This has nothing to do, then, with the fact that Vayne Solidor knows your face?"

Vaan blinked in shock and Basch went still.

Ivalice shook her head. "Nothing whatsoever. That one keeps secrets from himself. Why would he confide them to anyone? Much less one anonymous girl-child of Dalmasca."

Balthier shrugged. "A girl-child with golden eyes."

Ivalice was silent, her lips forcibly closed.

Vaan broke the silence. "My brother, he trusted you." Ivalice wasn't sure if Vaan was referring to her, or Basch, or both of them at once. "He trusted you, and he lost everything. How can I believe you?"

Basch stood. "Not me then. Believe in your brother. He was a fine soldier. He fought to the last to protect his homeland." Basch reconsidered. "No. Surely he fought to protect his brother."

Vaan was upset. "You don't know anything!"

Balthier interrupted. "Believe what you want. Whatever it takes to make you happy." He turned away from both of them. "What's done is done."

As they started forward, Basch stopped Ivalice with a hand on her arm. When she turned to look at him, he thought he saw sudden hope die in her eyes. "Please," he said, "I have to know something. Did you send us knowingly into the Empire's trap?"

The anguish in her golden eyes was unmistakable. Her eyes met his and he could see the hurt that his question caused, but he'd had to ask. "No." She shook her head to emphasize the denial. "No, I swear to you. You can't have believed . . . You can't have spent two years thinking that I . . ." She faltered as she could read quite plainly that he had. "I'm so sorry."

He smiled, but it was a grim shadow of his former laugh. "It is well now. I had to ask you myself. I had to know."

"I – I understand." Her eyes said that she truly did, even through the hurt. But there was a wall that hadn't been there before. "Is there anything else, Captain?" She paused a bit before the title, unsure that she still had the right to call him by name.

"Just one." She looked up at him. "Please, call me by name, as you did before. I never stopped being your friend, either."

Her smile was all the sunlight he needed in this dank and dark tunnel.


	4. Chapter 4

Final Fantasy XII

A Traveler in a Strange World

By Maracae Grizzley

Part Four

They arrived in Rabanastre by way of the East Gate. Ivalice sighed as she remembered standing at this very gate waiting for Basch so that she could give him the warning that sent him to spend two years in a cage. It was a strange sort of pain, being so close to him andyet still being so far apart. Her throat ached and her eyes burned, but she didn't dare break down here.

Basch took a deep breath. "I thank you."

Balthier nodded. "I'd avoid crowds if I were you. In this town you're still a traitor, you know."

Basch looked so sure of himself, so strong despite his long captivity. "The Resistance will surely find me soon." He turned to Vaan. "Fates will we meet again. I would pay my respects to your brother." Then he turned to Ivalice, who tried to smile. But what to say to the woman who had grown out of the child he had left? Mere words seemed so empty. "Ivalice."

She blinked rapidly for a moment, the sun must have been glaring into her eyes. "Basch."

He turned and walked away.

Ivalice was still watching his back as Balthier and Fran took their leave, too. Balthier nodded to Ivalice, noting that she still stared at the retreating form of the Captain. "I am sorry that things didn't work out as you had hoped." He kept his voice low, more out of respect than any need for secrecy.

"It's not anyone's fault." Ivalice tried very hard to control the waver in her voice. "I do thank you, though, for the attempt."

"Ah, in another time and place I might have entertained hopes for myself, but who am I to fight the Fates?"

Ivalice sighed. "There's only one Fate, and she's my little sister. You wouldn't have to fight her for anything; she's a weakness for rogues and pirates."

Balthier grinned and bowed. "I should meet her someday."

"You'd get along famously."

Then he and Fran left. They were going to stay in Rabanastre for a while before moving on.

Ivalice sighed and looked at Vaan. "I'll see you around. Tell Penelo to find me. I'll want to talk to her after – after you get to show off your treasure." Then she walked away, proud of how she hadn't broken down yet.

---

Ivalice found a secluded corner of the central plaza to sit down, curl up, and have a good cry. She was still a child to him, or worse, the ploy had worked and he knew that she wasn't a child, but wasn't interested in her in that way. Always a friend, never a girlfriend. For all she knew there could still be the issue of the age difference, not that she cared how old he was. She was far older than his mere thirty-six years, never mind what her body looked like.

Everything just seemed so hopeless. She didn't even know why she'd begun to hope anyway. After the madness, and what she had lost in it, she had given up hope. Decades spent in and out of the teenage years and she hadn't been troubled once by wanting any man to look at her the way she'd seen them looking at her sisters.

And now, a chance meeting on a crowded street threw all that out the proverbial window and it was like she was a teenager again for real. Always wanting the one who didn't want her. She was so stupid, such an idiot.

The tears fell faster and faster, emptying out of her like a flood, leaving a great Nothing in their place. It wasn't Peace, that was Something. This was just Emptiness, a great, aching Emptiness. At the bottom of that well, Ivalice found a resolution.

If that was the way he wanted it, then that was the way it was going to be. Eventually he'd look at some woman and she'd see that expression on his face. She'd seen it enough times by now that she knew exactly what it looked like. And when that happened . . . When she saw that look in his eyes . . . Even if it wasn't her . . . She'd move Heaven and Earth to see that they could be together and be happy.

After all, she was his friend.

---

Ivalice stood. She would risk one question to The Mother. One question alone. _How do I find Basch?_

The answer came winging its way back through the silences of her soul, carrying the baggage of a step on a path. _Follow Vaan._

There, she had done it. Vaan would be looking for Penelo, that meant stopping by Migelo's, but he'd be taking his time. She had to hurry.

---

Ivalice found Kytes looking after Migelo's shop, with no sign of Migelo or Penelo in sight. He waved at her. "Hey! You escaped, too?"

"Where's Vaan?"

Kytes frowned. "Vaan came by looking for Penelo and Migelo. They're not here right now. I told him that Old Dalan had an errand for me, and he offered to do it." Ivalice turned and ran. "Hey," Kytes called after her, "have you been crying?"

---

The quickest way to Dalan's was across the fountain square to South Gate and from there to Lowtown. Ivalice ran into Old Dalan's chamber in time to see Vaan standing there, holding a sword of the old Order in his hands. Vaan was talking.

" . . . I wanted to show her what I got from the palace, but I haven't been able to find her anywhere. Can you let me know if you hear anything?"

Dalan smiled. "You can just leave that to me." Both of them looked at Ivalice as she ran in. "Yes?"

Ivalice smiled at Dalan and then looked at the sword in Vaan's hands. "What are you doing with that?"

Vaan looked down at the sword. "Dalan wants me to deliver it to someone called Azelas."

Ivalice nodded. "Mind if I come along?"

Vaan shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

Dalan smiled large. He was old, and loved his pipe, but he wasn't stupid, or slow, or apt to come to false conclusions. His eyes and ears had already reported to him about the events at East Gate, and he could see the remains of tears on her cheeks. He knew where the boy was going and who he would find there. A slight chuckle escaped him. "Yes, yes, I should think that an excellent idea. Take the girl with you, Vaan, but mind that you are the one who delivers the sword."

Vaan nodded. "Thanks, Dalan, for everything."

Then the two of them left, Ivalice following a step behind Vaan.

Dalan sighed to himself. "And so it is done. But will it be enough to remind him of what the Order once meant?" Then he fell to chuckling again at the thought of the runaway Imperial Daughter in love with a Captain of the Order of Knights of Dalmasca. Young people were so entertaining.

---

Vaan and Ivalice entered the enclave of the Rabanastran Resistance cell to the sound of men arguing.

"Then what do you make of Ondore's proclamation? Are you suggesting they fooled even the Marquis?"

"What if a Judge killed the King, not the Captain? That would explain everything, wouldn't it?"

"In that case, the Captain would be brother to a Judge! How are we to trust such a man?"

Then Basch appeared and all coherent thought vanished from Ivalice's mind. He had cleaned up, trimmed his hair and beard, and changed into new clothes. He wasn't the Knight in Shining Armor that she had met two years before, he was better. She ached to run into his arms, but she didn't have that right. She could call him by name, but had no other intimacy allowed to her.

Basch saw Ivalice standing behind Vaan, and immediately he saw the stains on her cheeks from recent and prolonged weeping. White-hot rage filled his heart. He would find that pirate and slow roast him over a fire. Basch was convinced that the flirting and teasing of the Barheim Passage had caused a genuine attachment on Ivalice's part. He was going to sit down and have a long, serious talk with Balthier about the hazards of toying with the affections of impressionable young girls.

Captain Vossler Azelas saw Basch's entrance. "Now there is the Basch that I remember."

Basch turned to Vossler. "Then will you fight again at my side?"

The men who had been arguing broke in.

"His word alone convinces me of nothing."

"I'd take his word over that of a mouthpiece Marquis!"

"Then you'd name Reks liar with him."

Vaan charged forward at that, unable to remain silent any longer. "My brother was no liar!"

Basch spoke up. "Just the opposite. Reks was the witness they needed. They had to make it appear as if I had killed the King – Reks bears no blame." He looked at Vaan. "The Fates have willed it."

Vossler stepped over to Vaan. "So this is Reks's brother." He reached out and roughly yanked the sword out of Vaan's hands. "Your words may convince a child, but they weigh too lightly on the scales for my taste. Our paths will remain separate."

Ivalice stepped forward. "What about my words?" It was almost a challenge. "I never believed Ondore's proclamation. I always said that witnesses could be deceived, that appearances could be false. I have always maintained that he could be innocent."

"And your words sent us there in the first place." It wasn't quite a shout. "You followed him like a lost puppy. He was a hero to you. How could you have done anything but believe him innocent? Our paths will remain separate."

"Do you not think Amalia worth saving?" Basch's voice was softly accusing.

Vossler reacted to the barb. It had hit too close to home. He turned away. "I hold men's lives in my hands. I must see foes in every shadow. The night we moved against Vayne, he knew. I will not chance such disadvantage again. I must treat you as I would Ondore – as I would any abettor of the Empire."

"Like Hell!" Ivalice did shout. "Ondore was protecting Amalia. Just as I would have. Just as Basch would have. And what makes you all-fired certain that Vayne isn't counting on you being once-bitten-twice-shy? At holding allies at arm's reach because you'd been burned by that conniving backstabbing pit viper?! If he knew then, what makes you think he doesn't know now?"

Basch was just as angry, and put his arm out to keep himself between Ivalice and Vossler. "Then what will you do? Hold me here in chains?"

For a moment they lock eyes. Then Vossler tossed the sword that Vaan had delivered to Basch, who caught it easily. Basch shook his head. "Some things never change. Do they?"

Ivalice snorted. "Ondore had one thing right. You are cut of the same cloth. You're just going crossways of the weave."

"Be that as it may." Vossler told Ivalice, then turned to Basch. "Listen to me, Basch. Your cage may have no bars, but it is a cage. The eyes of the Resistance watch unblinking."

"Let them watch. I know something of cages." He turned and stalked out with Ivalice following close behind.

She paused long enough to throw out one last line. "Careful, Captain Azelas, eyes that don't blink lose their vision."

After a moment of indecision, Vaan followed them out the door.

---

Outside the enclave, Vaan was thoughtful. "That's right – Amalia's in the Resistance."

Basch looked at him. "Then you know her?"

"Sort of." Vaan replied. "We met just before we got sent to Nalbina. I've known nicer people."

Ivalice shrugged. "I knew her the moment I saw her. You should have seen it, Basch. She's on a ledge trapped by Imperials and Vaan runs up and shouts for her to jump. She jumps and he catches her. It was . . . it was well worth it."

Basch nodded and then turned to Vaan. "Our paths keep crossing, yours and mine. It's more than coincidence."

"It's annoying." Vaan said. Ivalice hid a grin.

"I'm sorry." Even Basch was amused. "Allow me one last annoyance: a favor to ask. I want you to take me to Balthier. Even caged birds need wings." And he could have that talk with the sky pirate.

Vaan agreed. "This makes us even."

"Even?" Basch was confused.

"For Nalbina. We couldn't have done it without you." Vaan glanced at Ivalice. "Any idea where to find Balthier?"

Neither of them expected to hear Ivalice laugh. "He's a sky pirate, Vaan, where do you think he is? He's in a tavern, treating himself to a well-earned drink, and trying to pinch the serving girls as they pass."

"Ahh, the Sandsea."

"The Sandsea it is, then. But can we walk above ground? There's an exit just across the way and I really need some sunlight. I'm sick of dark and tunnels."

Vaan nodded and Basch had to agree with them. He also felt a moment of hope that perhaps his conversation with Balthier wouldn't have to become violent. After all, he did need a favor from the man.

---

They were just stepping out from the Lowtown entrance when a voice called out above the crowd. "Mel!"

Ivalice paused midstep at the shout. Basch and Vaan looked curiously at her. She shook her head, as if clearing it and started walking again. There was no way that anyone knew where she was, had even the first clue of where to find her, or knew that she had no way of contacting any of them.

The voice shouted out again. "Amelie!"

Ivalice stopped still in her tracks, her eyes wide and shocked. It was impossible, but it was. She knew that voice, that name. That had been her name once upon a time, before the cavern, before she had been sealed away to slowly die. Basch looked around at saw a woman running towards them. She ran right up to Ivalice and grabbed her by the shoulders, spinning her around to hug.

"Oh, High Ones, I am so glad to find you!"

The woman had a full head of shock-white hair with what looked to be ear tips pointing up through it. They weren't viera ears, they weren't ears of any race either Basch or Vaan knew. They looked at each other and then back at the woman embracing a stunned Ivalice. What was going on?

After a moment Ivalice seemed to come back to herself and laughed, and hugged the woman back, through the tears that fell from her eyes in joy. "Mirari, it's been forever." She grinned. "Oh, and your ears are showing."

The woman patted her hair to cover the eartips and smiled. "This is a weird world, Mel. How did you get here? Where have you been? Lys and I have been worried sick about you after you left like that. You said that you were going to see your brother and then tool around for a while before coming back, but you never came back. I know that time flows differently in some places, but how long did you expect to take?"

"Yeah, that's complicated, Ree."

"Everything with you is complicated, Mel." She looked up at Basch and Vaan. "And who are these two, friends of yours?" She leaned in conspiratorially, "Do you share?"

Ivalice turned bright red and spluttered. It was a perfectly legitimate question for Mirari, her father's people weren't human and weren't expected to adhere to human morals or mores, but the mere thought that she and Vaan had that sort of relationship . . . was more than absurd. Finally she took a deep breath and glared at Ree, who grinned and winked unrepentantly. "Mirari, may I introduce my friends and companions to you? This is Vaan of Rabanastre and this," she lowered her voice slightly, "is Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca."

Ree looked quizzically at Ivalice. "Why are you talking so much – this would be so much faster if you'd just Send – and why are you seventeen again? Did you have to start over for some reason? I would think you'd choose to be at least drinking age, as humans consider such things."

Basch managed to hide his choking behind stillness. Vaan wasn't so disciplined. "Seventeen again?"

Ivalice rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this right now, Ree."

Mirari's face turned still. "Make time, Amelie Goldeneyes Dreamsail. I know you can."

"I used to be able to, Ree, that's what the problem is." She sighed, her fists clenching in frustration at her sides. "Wolf Eyes caught me by surprise on Abode, by the way, your father wants to hear from you. Again, it's complicated but I was vulnerable at the time, ask your father about what Timmain asked of me and what happened when we got there. When he couldn't kill me outright he did the next best thing. He beat me senseless and threw me into a special cavern. Every day I spent there, I lost two days from my age. He sealed my powers so I couldn't do anything and then left me there to one-step-forward-two-steps-back myself into oblivion."

Mirari's eyes went round in shock. Basch was too disciplined to show his fury, but anger burned hot and cold through his veins.

"How did you get out?" Mirari took hold of Ivalice's hands, gently helping the fists to unclench.

"A boy-child of this world found the door and took me home with him. That was three years ago. Two years ago I had to run from that home because a man started looking at me." She looked up from her hands at Mirari's expression. "Not like that. He looked at me like Hojo had, like I was an experiment to manipulate or to disassemble at whim."

"And you didn't Send for help because . . ."

"Because, among other gifts, my telepathy was still sealed. In point of fact, it still is, largely. I've been able to break the seals only twice. Enough Illusion magic to hide in plain sight and a touch of my healing gift. I'm hoping it's only a matter of time . . ."

Mirari enfolded Ivalice in her arms for a moment and then pulled a marbled stone, green, red, and blue, from a pocket. It was oval-shaped and set in a golden bracket through which she wove a ribbon. She tied the stone, ribbon and all, to Ivalice's forehead like an ornament. "You know what to do if you ever need help. I'll call the Hunt to help me find the Old Ones if you need them. How are you called, here?"

"Ivalice, same as the world."

Mirari nodded. "I'll do some research when I get out of here. Might help if this is a world that we can learn about. I'll be back, unless you call to tell me that you're on your way out."

"Let Lys know that I'm alright, relatively speaking."

Mirari nodded again. "Shade and sweet water."

"Shade and sweet water."

Then Mirari melted into the crowd and was gone. Ivalice turned back to Basch and Vaan, tears in her eyes. "Let's find Balthier and help a caged bird fly, shall we?"

Vaan looked at Ivalice curiously. "If you were made younger . . . how old would that make you now?"

Basch sighed and Ivalice rolled her eyes. "A few simple rules for life, Vaan," she said, "never pray for patience, always remember that this, too, shall pass in good times and bad, and never, ever ask a woman her age. Besides, once maturity is reached, everything else is moot."

They started walking again and Basch had to take a while to control his voice. "This, too, shall pass?"

"In good times and bad. Cherish the good, endure the bad. This, too, shall pass."

---

The entered the Sandsea and spied Baltheir sitting at a table in the upper balcony with Fran and, of all people, Migelo. They seemed to be deep in conversation as the three of them walked up the steps.

"As I said, a misunderstanding." Balthier was seated.

"Misunderstanding?!" Migelo stood as if cornering the sky pirate. "What I am understanding is that they took Penelo because of you!"

Ivalice gasped in surprise and Vaan charged forward. "What?" he asked, "What about Penelo?"

Migelo saw them. "Oh, Vaan. They've taken Penelo! And there was a note – a note for this Balthier! Come to the Bhujerba mines, it said."

"It's Ba'Gamnan." Fran said. "He was in Nalbina."

Migelo was plainly distraught. "If anything were to happen to that sweet child . . . Why, I've her parents' memory to consider!" He looked at Balthier with an expression that brooked no argument. "You're going to her aid, and that's that. It's what you sky pirates do, isn't it?"

Balthier turned stern. "I don't respond well to orders." He paused. "You do know that the Imperial fleet is massing at Bhujerba?"

Ivalice stepped forward. "Not orders then." Balthier looked at her in silence and Basch watched something unspoken pass between them. "Please, Balthier, I am begging you. Penelo is as much my friend as Vaan's, as much my friend as any I have. For all that is not in your power to do, this is in your power." Balthier looked troubled and glanced at Basch.

Vaan was impatient. "Fine, then, I'll go! You at least have an airship, don't you? Just get me there and I'll find Penelo myself."

Basch spoke up. "I'll join you."

Vaan looked at him, confused. "Huh?" Ivalice closed her eyes momentarily.

"I have some business there as well." Basch explained.

Balthier looked at him. "An audience with the Marquis, by chance?" for a moment they simply looked at each other until Basch almost smiled and broke the contact.

Vaan decided to play his final card. "Balthier, just take us and this is yours." He pulled out the stone and Ivalice felt the momentary chill again and a vague sense of weakness. She did not like that stone.

Fran shook her head. "The gods are toying with us."

Balthier was backed into a corner and he didn't like it. He stood. "Make yourselves ready. We leave soon." He and Fran started to walk away.

Ivalice tried to smile at him. "Thank you, Balthier." Again, something unspoken seemed to pass between them and Basch's eyes narrowed watching them. He was going to have to have that talk, and soon.

Vaan and the others followed Balthier downstairs. Ba'Gamnan's note could only be referring to the Lhusu Mines in Bhujerba. Balthier's ship was docked in the Aerodrome by the West Gate. As soon as they were ready, they would leave for the sky continent of Dorstonis and the city of Bhujerba.

On board the _Strahl_, Balthier's ship, Basch cornered the sky pirate privately. "Ivalice was crying in Rabanastre after we parted ways. What have you . . ."

Balthier jerked as if shot by his own weapon. "Me? You think she was crying over me?"

Basch grew stern. "I saw your behavior below Nalbina. You are charming and a rogue. She is a young girl who is susceptible to such. If you have toyed with her affections . . ."

Balthier sighed, half in frustration at Basch, half in frustration at himself, and half again in frustration at the whole convoluted mess. "And they say that the lady is the last to know . . ." he muttered to himself. He cleared his throat and addressed Basch. "What you saw was a game," he glanced and saw the scowl deepen, "played according to her rules. And for the record, Captain, she's not as susceptible as you seem to think she is. I find her to be attractive and mysterious and utterly delightful, all qualities I value highly, and if I had the least chance of charming my way into her affections, I would take it. But she has not fixed her affections upon me, I assure you. I am not the one who brings tears to her golden eyes. I am not the one she watches at all times. And I am certainly not the one whose attention she seeks, and would give much to have. I, Captain, am not the one you need to be lecturing."

Basch was troubled, and considered the situation. "Then who is it?"

Balthier smiled. "Why don't you think about it for a while? I'm sure that it will come to you in time."

Basch was deep in thought the rest of the flight.

---

They arrived in the Bhujerba Aerodrome to see Imperial soldiers. Basch grunted in anger. Balthier stood beside him. "Easy."

The soldiers were searching for someone, and they couldn't find him.

Balthier spoke in a low voice, "You're a dead man. Don't forget it. And no names." The last was directed as much at Vaan as at Basch.

"Of course." Basch understood.

---

They stepped out of the Aerodrome into sunlight. "The Lhusu Mines are just up ahead." Balthier told them. "Though I do hear there's not much left there these days."

Just then a voice spoke up, a voice that caused Ivalice to freeze still, her eyes widening with shock and surprise. "You're on your way to the Mines?" The group turned to look at the well-dressed fourteen-year-old boy who hopped down from the bridge wall and walked over to them. Basch was surprised to see that Ivalice was actually trembling. "Then please," the boy said, "allow me to accompany you. I've an errand to attend to there."

Basch looked from Ivalice, who had not yet turned to look at the boy, to the boy himself, who seemed to be trying not to look at her. "What manner of errand?"

The boy looked at all of them. "What errand? I might ask the same of you."

Balthier took the hint. "Right. Come on, then."

Vaan was surprised. "What?"

The boy nodded. "Excellent."

"Do me a favor," Balthier continued, "and stay where I can keep an eye on you? Should be less trouble that way."

"For us both." The boy replied.

Vaan looked him over. "So what's your name?"

Ivalice slowly turned around. "He's called Lamont." There were tears in her eyes that were mirrored in the boy. "He – he's my brother." She seemed to be trying very hard to maintain composure. She smiled at Lamont. "You've grown."

He tried to smile back. "It has been two years, Sister. I have been told that it happens to everyone my age."

She opened her arms and he ran into them. "I have missed you, Nii-chan." She hugged him close and then let him go.

Vaan nodded to himself. "Don't worry." He put a friendly hand on the boy's shoulder, "I don't know what's in that mine, Lamont, but you're in good hands." He smiled. "Right, Basch?"

The adults looked surprised and Basch groaned but Lamont seemed to take it in stride as they set out and Vaan introduced the rest of them, all by name.

---

It didn't take long at all to reach the entrance to the Lhusu Mines, reported by Balthier to be one of the richest in Ivalice. Basch believed that it would be under Imperial guard but, according to Lamont, the Imperial Army wasn't allowed in Bhujerba except with special leave.

They had only just entered the mine when an Imperial inspection party approached the exit. A Judge walked with another nobleman of Bhujerba. Lamont identified him as Marquis Ondore. Ondore was diverting magicite to Vayne through secret channels, but he wasn't very happy about it.

Lamont speculated that his famed neutrality had slipped a bit in favor of the Empire. Balthier pointed out the persistent rumors that Ondore was supplying the Resistance. Lamont was skeptical of the rumors.

Ivalice spoke up. "He's walking a very narrow path. The Empire killed his friend. He cannot forgive them. But he cannot fight them, Bhujerba would be smashed like an annoying fly. He cannot cooperate with the Empire, seeming too friendly would arouse suspicion. But he has to cooperate. So he does what he has to do to protect his people and shows just enough resentment to forestall suspicion, but not enough to be annoying and a target for military action."

Balthier sighed. "I don't know which of you I'm more curious about. Your insight or his information. Who did you say you were again?"

Vaan was impatient. "What difference does it make? We have to find Penelo."

Now Lamont was curious. "And Penelo is your . . ."

"She's a friend." Vaan told him. "She was kidnapped ant taken here."

Ivalice put a hand on Lamont's shoulder. "She's also my friend, and has been for two full years while I lived with the other war orphans in Rabanastre."

Lamont was thoughtful as they continued into the mine.

---

They had to cross two bridges linking cavernous tunnels in the underside of the skyborne continent, but they found what Lamont was seeking when they found a cavern with raw magicite still buried in the stone matrix from which it was born. Lamont sighed at the sight. "This is what I came here to see." He reached into a pocket and pulled out a glowing crystal and compared it to the natural ones nearby.

Ivalice winced a bit at the crystal. Looking at it hurt her eyes. She turned her head, blinking rapidly, and saw Basch looking at her with concern in his eyes. She tried to smile at him.

"What's that?" Vaan asked Lamont.

"It's nethicite. Manufacted nethicite." If she hadn't been looking at Balthier, Ivalice would have missed the sudden hardness in his face as Lamont named the crystal.

"Nethicite?" Vaan didn't understand.

"Unlike regular magicite," Lamont told him, "nethicite absorbs magickal energy. This is the fruit of the research into the manufacture of nethicite. All at the hands of Draklor Laboratory." Balthier glared at Lamont but Lamont was oblivious. Ivalice, though, watched Balthier with a growing concern on her face. "So this is where they're getting the magicite." Lamont was lost in his own curiosity.

"Errand all attended to, then?" Balthier's voice was set at a dangerous tone. Ivalice glanced at Basch, her worry and concern causing him concern in turn. She seemed on the verge of panic.

Lamont had his back turned to Balthier, oblivious. "Thank you. I'll repay you shortly."

Balthier began walking towards Lamont, and Ivalice didn't like the slow, steady pace he used. Like he was stalking her brother. Like he intended real harm to the boy she had sworn to protect. "No," he said, his voice becoming even more dangerous, "you'll repay us now. We have too much on our hands to go on holding yours."

"Balthier . . ." Ivalice started.

"Not now." he growled. "So where did you hear this fairy tale about 'nethicite'? And where did you get that sample you carry?"

Ivalice had no choice. She stepped between Lamont and Balthier and put her arms up to stop him. "No further. I cannot allow you to threaten my brother."

"What are you doing?" Vaan cried out. Balthier's face turned furious and he lost all the charm he used to hide his claws. He was no wolf, he was a hunting cat and now he was enfuriated.

Basch felt his heart sink. Her actions told him louder than words who the boy was and, in a strange way, he was proud of Ivalice, of her loyalty. He just knew that she was going to suffer for the betrayal that her loyalty demanded.

Ivalice tried to explain herself. "I'm keeping a promise. I swore to protect him. Ask your questions, but I cannot allow you to threaten him."

Just then a snarly bangaa voice spoke out in the cavern and they turned to see Ba'Gamnan and his twisted siblings entering. "You kept us waiting, Balthier! You slipped away in Nalbina. We missed you! First the Judge and now this boy." The headhunters began to approach and Ivalice felt her chances for forgiveness slip away. She could have talked to Balthier, reasoned with him. There was no reasoning with these bloodthirsty bangaa. "The whole affair has the smell of money about it. I may have to wet my beak a little."

"Keep your snout in the trough where it belongs." Balthier called out. "This thinking ill befits you, Ba'Gamnan."

"Balthier!" The bangaa called back, "Too long have I gone unpaid. I'll carve my bounty out of that boy!"

Ivalice took a step back, closer to Lamont, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Like Hell you will!"

"Where's Penelo?" Vaan shouted. "We're taking her back."

"The girl?" Ba'Gamnan seemed humored by Vaan's concern. "Why keep the bait when you've landed the fish? We cut her loose on our way here and then off she ran, crying like a babe!"

Vaan was infuriated and Lamont shrugged off Ivalice's protective arm. She had no choice, no choice at all, and Balthier would never forgive her. "Nii-chan, run!" They took off, with the others in pursuit.

Every so often Ivalice glanced back behind her to see Balthier gaining on them. He looked angry, terribly, terribly angry and she knew what she had to do, and didn't like it. They were across the second bridge and Ivalice told Lamont, "Go on ahead. I'll stall them."

"No, Ivalice, they'll . . ."

"They probably won't kill me, but they will stop to yell at me. We already lost the headhunters. Run to Ondore. You can't protect me, but I can protect you. Go!"

With a cry, Lamont charged forward and Ivalice slowed down to catch her breath and await her fate. She didn't have to wait long.

Balthier grabbed her by her shirt and threw her against the wall. "Just what do you think you were doing?" He still held on to her shirt and yelled into her face. She panicked.

"I had to. I had to. Please believe me, I had no choice. He's my brother. I swore to protect him. To die for him." She was sobbing hysterically. "Basch, you understand, don't you?" Basch stiffened as she addressed him. When he didn't respond immediately, she began crying harder. "He's my brother. He's my brother."

Balthier growled and pushed her to the ground before grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her roughly along with them. "You're coming with us and you're staying in sight. I want answers and I want them soon."

They got to the entrance just as Lamont ran past the columns straight towards Marquis Ondore, Judge Ghis . . . and Penelo.

Balthier pushed Ivalice towards the shadowed side of a column and she shank down to the ground with her back to it, tears still coursing down her cheeks.

Larsa came to an immediate decision. He might have been powerless to protect his sister, but he would not leave another girl in need of help defenseless before the Empire. He took hold of Penelo's hand and resolved to return her to her friend, safe and sound.

Ghis looked at Larsa in surprise. "That was unexpected."

---

Vaan couldn't understand what had happened. "What's Penelo doing? And what's the deal with that Lamont?"

"That's no 'Lamont'," Balthier told him, "Larsa Ferrinas Solidor. Fourth son to Emperor Gramis . . . and brother to Vayne." He looked at Ivalice, still furious with her. "Strange how you only claim one of them."

Vaan was shocked. "What? That kid?!"

"I never trusted Vayne. The first time we met I put myself between them because I thought he was a threat to Larsa. I still think he is."

Fran tried to reassure Vaan. "Do not worry. I believe he will treat her well."

Balthier nodded. "Nobody knows men like Fran does." He looked back at Ivalice. "I should have guessed you were that Ivalice." He sounded disgusted, and still very, very angry.

"Why did you let us catch you?" Basch asked. He sounded almost sad. Stiff and formal, but still, sad.

"I couldn't go with him. Going back to Archades now would be a direct trip to Draklor and Doctor Cid, and there would be no escape for me. I can't protect my brother from a madman's lab and I would do anything to protect my Nii-chan."

Balthier started to raise his arm to backhand her, but Basch stopped him. They looked at each other a moment until Balthier dropped his arm and turned away with a growl. He abruptly turned back. "Can we trust you? Are there any other surprises you're hiding?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment. Once we have everyone together I'll tell you everything. But Larsa is the only loyalty that I have other than to Dalmasca and to you guys."

"Larsa, but not the Empire." Basch asked.

Ivalice nodded.

Balthier pulled her to her feet. "Very well. But I am not letting you out of my sight."

"I wouldn't expect you to. Just out of curiosity, why do you see red at the mention of Cid and Draklor?" Balthier glared at her silently. "I guess we both have unanswered questions."

Basch spoke up. "Our purposes lead the same way: to Ondore. We must find means to approach him."

"The Marquis is channeling money to organizations opposing the Empire." Balthier said. "We'll start there."

---

Their only option, in the end, was to do what Balthier had advised against doing all along. If enough people started whispering that Basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca was, in fact, alive, then Ondore would have to meet with them. The anti-Imperial groups he supported would not be patient with someone they thought was a collaborator.

Vaan would be the one to spread the news. Ivalice was still not trustworthy, at least in Balthier's eyes. For his part, Basch could understand Ivalice very well indeed.


	5. Chapter 5

Final Fantasy XII

A Traveler in a Strange World

By Mrs. Grizzley

Part Five

It took some work at a rather tense interview with the local Resistance cell, but they got into the office of Marquis Halim Ondore IV, the man who had announced Princess Ashe's suicide and Basch's execution. Penelo, accompanying Larsa, had already left for the airship Leviathan. Ondore had a way to get them on board, but . . . There was silence as Basch and Ondore looked at each other, until Basch nodded acquiescence and drew his sword.

Balthier and the others cried out, but Ivalice suddenly understood and drew her weapon to stand beside Basch. He glanced over at her and she smiled at him.

Then the guards arrived to carry them to the airship Leviathan as prisoners being transferred to the custody of Judge Ghis.

---

They were taken onto the bridge of the Leviathan and saw Ghis, and the woman who had called herself Amalia. When she saw Basch she walked up to him and slapped him across the face. Ivalice almost choked.

Judge Ghis introduced the Princess Ashe to the others. Ivalice looked at Basch and saw him looking right at Ashe and an idea started to bubble in her brain. If that was what Basch wanted, that was what Basch was going to get.

Ivalice wasn't really paying attention to the conversation about the Dusk Shard – the stone that Vaan had found. As Ghis instructed the guards to lead them away, though, he abruptly changed that.

"You do not have to accompany them, Lady Ivalice."

Everyone stopped, some looking at Ghis, some looking at Ivalice. Ashe stared at Ivalice in surprise. Ivalice turned on her heel to glare at Ghis. "My father was to instruct you to ignore me."

"The note you left for Gabranth has caused Lord Vayne some concern. He has instructed us otherwise in the interest of your safety. If you are being coerced in any way, Lady Ivalice . . ."

Ivalice didn't know whether to laugh in his face or to attack him, bare handed or not. "Coerced . . .?" The incredulity in her voice was unmistakable. There was screaming silence on the bridge until Ivalice turned back on her heel with an exasperated sigh. "Tell Vayne that my sentiment has not changed. When I am ready to return to Archades, I will tell him or I'll go on my own. Now, we were being taken somewhere?"

In the hallway, Basch walked beside Ivalice. "A note?"

"Written and tucked in an Imperial belt before we found you. I was trying to tell Vayne to keep his nose out of my business. I didn't know . . . I didn't know that he was your brother."

Basch seemed to accept her explanation.

The old-fashioned jailbreak that followed was made possible by Vossler, another former Captain of the Knights of Dalmasca, and the man who had guarded Ashe for the past two years. He was determined to free Ashe and needed their help to manage it.

They quickly agreed.

---

Finding the Princess was easy enough. Getting her free . . . was another thing entirely – especially when alarms started screaming the moment they stepped out from the cell block.

Basch's voice rang out. "We will cut you a path, Majesty!"

But the Princess had to throw a fit. "I will not put my trust in the sword of a traitor."

Ivalice sighed loudly. "Enough, Lady Ashe. Basch is no traitor. I'll explain when we get you out of here. Vossler, you were there!"

Vossler nodded. "We must trust his sword, I see no other way."

So they started running, taking the quickest way possible.

---

The group turned a corner and saw Larsa run up to them with Penelo in tow. Quickly Penelo and Vaan ran to teach other, only moments more quickly than Ivalice embraced Larsa. "I missed you, Little Brother, more than you know."

Larsa smiled at her before addressing Ashe and Basch. He needed them free in the world to help unravel the web that conspired to make them both appear dead. Larsa took Vossler with him to secure them an escape vehicle. Then he glanced at Ivalice.

"When are you coming home?" He sounded hopeful, and half-resigned to losing that hope.

"I can't yet. I'm not strong enough."

He sighed. "Will you at least write to me? One note is not sufficient."

"Find me a reliable contact and I'll pepper you with letters."

He grinned. "Consider it done." He gave Penelo the nethicite sample he carried, and then they were gone.

They were almost out and free when Judge Ghis appeared to block their way. The Empire had the Dusk Shard, it didn't need Ashe any longer. He tried to kill them, but the magick was absorbed by Penelo's nethicite.

In the silence that followed, Ghis clenched his teeth. "How like your father," he told Ashe, "ever quick to spurn an honorable surrender."

That infuriated Ashe and the battle was on.

---

Ghis fell, defeated but not killed, as Vossler appeared and shouted that they had secured an Atomos class ship. The group ran as quickly as they could. Once Fran, who was piloting, had them free of the armada, they took off for Bhujerba.

A collective sigh of relief was heard in the transport ship.

Ashe turned to Ivalice. "What was this explanation that you said that you were going to give?"

"Basch didn't kill your father; he is no traitor."

Ashe looked at Basch. "Is this true?"

Basch nodded. "Yes, Majesty. The Empire laid the blame on me, but I did not murder my King."

Ashe looked thoughtful. "So you are Ivalice Solidor, the daughter of the Emperor?"

"Adopted, but yes."

"So how did you . . ."

"End up in Dalmasca on the eve of the Imperial invasion working on the Dalmascan side?" Ashe nodded. "It's a long story, but as it seems we're all here, I suppose I have time." She took a deep breath. "I am a Traveler, one of a group of people who travel from world to world seeking . . . well, adventure and survival. The primary power associated with Travelers is an extreme form of teleportation – we can go anywhere from anywhere. We can also duplicate items and create items to accomplish any number of tasks. In addition to this, all Travelers have abilities that are peculiar to themselves, unique and personal gifts. Mine include telepathy, Illusion, healing, and a connection to a being I call The Mother. Problem is, mine aren't working at the moment – except the connection and I've been trying to ignore that one for a very long time."

She sighed. "The Mother and I aren't getting along right now. It – it's me, not her, I suppose. You see, something terrible happened and I lost a great many people I loved very much. They took me in and gave me their name and I became one of them in truth. That's why . . . that's why my hair is the way it is. I don't grieve very well." Two great tears fell. "Quite simply, I went mad. I'm extremely lucky that I didn't do more damage than I did."

She paused a moment and then drew a deep breath. "When I was brought to my senses I lost something that meant more to me than my own life. I lost my child and the lover I had believed helped me create it. Even though they had never really been, still I grieved for them – only now I couldn't go mad to hide from that grief.

"So I tried being someone else, and I stopped talking to The Mother. I wanted nothing to do with the being who would steal my baby from me along with her father. Unfortunately, not talking with The Mother caused more trouble.

"I ended up in a world I didn't know, and thought that I had finally outrun The Mother. I caused myself to be born from a woman there and wound up in the middle of another nightmare. A madman scientist held me captive until I helped other captives escape and then helped a man hunt down and destroy the brother I adored. We had no choice. My brother had gone mad, himself, and was going to destroy the whole world to gain power. We had to do it.

"Again, grief and guilt threatened to unhinge me. So I tried to escape again. I ran to a world I almost knew and chose a brother for myself that I knew would never betray me. A brother I wouldn't have to redeem. But I couldn't escape myself, my grief and guilt. Eventually I ran again.

"I had old promises to keep, promises from before the grief and the madness – a sister needed my help and I had sworn to be there as she took up a third lifetime to try to redeem the man she loved. We were joined by the daughter of an old friend of ours, and it is a very good thing that we were three, because I came treacherously close to going mad again."

Vaan hesitantly interrupted. "Was that Mirari? Who called you Amelie in Rabanastre?"

Ivalice nodded. "Yes, Mirari gets the Traveling gift from her mother. Lyonesse and Mirari helped me face myself and the memories I had kept burying. When the three of us turned eighteen, Lys challenged the love of her life, and Ree and I were there to support her.

"After the wedding I stuck around for a couple years and then returned to the brother I knew that I could trust. He was the one who helped me see that even had I not been there, my Nii-sama would still have done all that he did.

"I decided to take a couple of weeks vacation in a world I thought I had known very well – the world Mirari's father came from – and ended up in a snakepit. I had to help some people Travel to the world of my Nii-sama – and had to face his shade all over again. So I was in a very vulnerable position when an old brother caught up with me.

"His name is Wolf Eyes, and he is systematically trying to wipe out all the Travelers – with emphasis on our family – who will not serve his new master. He couldn't kill me – The Mother wouldn't allow it – but he was able to place magical seals on all of my powers so that I was helpless and then toss me into a specially prepared cavern to slowly de-age until I was gone.

"Larsa was out with Vayne three years ago when he found the entrance to the cavern and then found me. It was Larsa's idea to take me home with them and adopt me into House Solidor. I would never have left, if not for Doctor Cid noticing me.

"I was not about to be another scientist's playpretty experiment. I couldn't protect myself, much less my Nii-chan, with my powers sealed, so I ran. I packed some things, left a letter for the Emperor and ran to Rabanastre. When I got there, I met Basch.

"My loyalty has never been to the Empire – except so far as Larsa is tied to the Empire. I was against the invasion the first time it was suggested in my hearing. I am loyal to Larsa and, after I met Basch, I became loyal to Dalmasca." She looked up and met Basch's eyes, and smiled a bittersweet smile. "I see no conflict in those loyalties."

Vossler blinked. "Few would agree with you."

Ivalice shrugged. "The war was never in the Empire's best interest. The current hostilities with Rozarria are the direct result."

Fran looked over her shoulder at them. "We approach Bhujerba."

It didn't take long to prepare.

---

Once they landed Vossler left them to see if he could find a way to restore Dalmasca. In the meantime he asked Basch to guard Ashe – and Basch agreed to the responsibility. Ivalice sighed to herself. Now he was her guardsman, just like Vincent had been for Lucrecia. Could things get any more obvious?

On their way back to Ondore's mansion, Ivalice took a moment to speak softly with Ashe. "Basch is a good man. I doubt you could find one better, and goodness knows you could do a lot worse. Besides, he's not the bragging type." Then she rushed forward so that the waver in her voice and the brightness in her eyes wouldn't give her away.

Ashe watched Ivalice hurry off, thoroughly confused.

---

That night, in Ondore's study, Ivalice listened to Ashe tell her story.

"We thought that you could protect me."

"And then, when I announced your suicide, I must have seemed the model citizen of the Empire."

Ivalice blinked in surprise. "What? You mean you weren't protecting her from Vayne with that?" Everyone looked at Ivalice. "I thought that was to fool Vayne. With her alive, and the goal of conquest, there were two paths – Vayne had to kill her lest she lead a rebel force to take back her throne or he had to marry her himself to seal his ownership of the land."

Ondore shook his head. "Vayne made the suggestion that I announce the Princess's suicide. It seems clear to me that his goal was to drive a wedge between her Majesty and myself."

Ivalice leaned against the table, her legs weak. "It also means that his goal is not conquest."

Balthier crossed his arms. "Then what is his goal? As you know him best."

Ivalice tried to smile at him. "I'm not sure. It could be Destruction or it could be Power. But he's too calculating to do something he doesn't have to do."

"By that same logic, Lady Ivalice," Basch said, "how would he have known that you would warn me to ride to the King's rescue so that he would be prepared with Gabranth?"

She looked up at him from her seat at the edge of the table. "I don't know. He may have had another messenger prepared to warn you or . . ." She paled.

"Or what?" Basch looked concerned.

"Or he had been told about my connection to the Mother, enough so that he could predict what I would do." Her eyes looked terrified.

"That frightens you?" Fran asked curiously.

"Of course it frightens me." Ivalice snapped nervously. She began to pace, clenching and unclenching her hands. "A great many powerful Travelers know me that well, but very few would tell Vayne about me. Only one, in fact, that I know of."

Fran raised an eyebrow. "Or, you could be borrowing trouble."

Ivalice shrugged. "Fair enough. It could be that I got to the Knights before another messenger could. But I have been a Traveler, and have survived, for a very long time. Is it still paranoia if there really is someone trying to kill you? Or worse?"

Ashe was thoughtful as the group left the office chamber so that preparations could be made for supper. She still had to find a way to prove her identity – and she still had the mystery of Ivalice's strange behavior around Basch . . ."

"He loves you, you know."

Ashe looked up from her thoughts, startled, to see Ivalice standing leaned against a wall, with an almost melancholy expression on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Basch. I can see it in his face – the way he watches you. His eyes are always watching you when you're in a room together." Her voice took on a distinct waver. "If you were to ever seek him out, no one would hear of it from him."

Suddenly Ashe understood. "What about you?"

"I would give anything for someone to look at me that way, but he's supposed to be with you. You're the one he watches. You're the one he guards." Her voice broke and tears started to fall. Ivalice turned and ran back to the room that had been set aside for her pending supper.

Ashe watched her leave, her expression set. She had to straighten some things out before she could find a way to prove herself.

---

Ashe was waiting in her room when she heard a knock at the door. She opened it to see Basch waiting patiently. "You asked for me, majesty?"

She nodded distractedly. "Come in. We have to talk." She closed the door behind him, then turned and looked into his face, trying to judge what she saw there. Ashe was capable of indirect diplomacy, but she decided that the shock of directness might accomplish her purpose best. "Are you in love with me?"

It was gratifying to see his impassive expression break. "Majesty?"

She chuckled. "I didn't think so. Were you aware that Ivalice is trying to play matchmaker for us?"

"No, I was unaware of that."

"Well, she is, and I have never seen a girl so hopelessly besotted before."

"I had thought that she had fallen for the sky pirate, but when I confronted him he claimed that there was another."

He didn't know, Ashe thought, dear Gods, he didn't know. "She's in love with you, Basch." Ashe tried to be gentle as she said the words. She wasn't expecting him to suddenly turn and sit on the edge of the bed.

"Me?" His voice was incredulous, and carried a strange note of wonder.

"Yes, you. She seems to have decided that since you don't seem interested in her," Basch looked surprised, "that she's going to find someone for you." Ashe paused. "is she wrong? Do you return her feelings?"

Basch closed his eyes, rebuilding his composure. "Yes, majesty, I do."

Ashe nodded. "Then you will have to be the one who talks to her."

Basch's eyes flew open, looking almost frightened. "What do I do? I had resolved to spend my life a bachelor in the service of my kingdom."

Ashe smiled, her eyes bittersweet. "You might attempt to begin by kissing her. Much can be learned about a man from his kiss."

Basch stood up and Ashe stepped aside so that he could get to the door. He bowed low before her. "My thanks, Majesty, for bringing this situation to my attention." Then he was gone.

Ashe sighed. One down, one to go.


	6. Chapter 6

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

By Mrs. Grizzley

Part Six

Ivalice was in her room, crying her eyes out. She wanted Basch to be happy, but it wasn't easy. She was startled out of her tears by an unexpected knock at the door. She stood and sniffled quickly and opened the door to see Basch standing in the hallway.

He smiled hesitantly. "May I come in?" He could tell that she'd been crying again. Over him, his conscience needled.

"What?" She looked surprised. "Oh, yes, of course." She backed up so that he could enter, which he did, and then she closed the door. "What did you want to see me about?"

"I have spoken with Lady Ashe and we are in agreement." He watched her face fall and he marveled and how easily read she was. She kept all her emotions right on the surface for all to see. How had he not seen her affections before? "I must thank you, though, for bringing the matter to her attention so that she could bring it to mine."

She tried to smile. "You're welcome." He could see her heart breaking, right behind her eyes, and the guilt of it almost broke him.

"There is but one, small, flaw in your plans, Lady Ivalice."

She blinked in surprise. "What is it?"

"Lady Ashe and I . . . are not the ones in love." He reached out and cupped her face in his hands, then leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers.

Ivalice felt her whole body go weak and she almost fell against the door at her back. It had been so very long since anyone had kissed her and this – this wasn't just any kiss. She leaned against the door and pulled him forward to press against her. She was so very hungry.

Eventually they had to part, if only to catch their breath. "Gods," he murmured, "I have wanted to do that since you broke open that cage below Nalbina."

She, almost, laughed. "I have wanted you to do that since you pulled me out from in front of that chocobo."

"Forgive me, I still find it difficult to reconcile . . ."

"My appearance with my experience?" She smiled at him.

"Yes." He thought a moment. "Your life experience . . ."

She placed a finger on his lips, silencing him with a smile. "You are about to ask a question you are not certain how to phrase. I would spare you the awkwardness. I am no cloistered innocent, but neither am I well-tutored. Apart from the madness, which felt real but was not and left no physical change, my last kiss was before I became a Traveler – and it was just a kiss."

He nodded understanding. "Very well." He wrapped his arms around her waist and she reached up to rest her arms around his neck. "Since it as been so long ago for both of us . . ." He brought their faces close and kissed her again.

She thought she heard a seal shatter, but wasn't sure, lost as she was in the electrical ice storm that was her gut. It felt like they were still too far apart, even though the only thing between them was their clothing. She wanted connection, union. And she wanted it with him.

They parted, breathless, and both were trembling. Basch looked a touch wild-eyed.

"Gods, Woman," he panted, his voice rough, "do you want me to lose restraint?"

Her stomach clenched in reaction to the thought. "O-only if you want to." But oh, she wanted him to want to.

He sighed and leaned his forehead against the wood of the door. She rested her face in his shoulder. "I dare not," he said, "it would not be proper. But knowing that – does not make this any easier."

Ivalice was afraid to speak, afraid that anything she said would break the moment and cause him to let go of her and step away. All this felt too much like a dream come true. She had woken from a dream once already; she couldn't survive losing another one.

He sighed again. "I will not." It had the force of decision, of oath-making. "Not without formal vows."

She sighed as well. "Formal vows." She hated the words she had to say, but she had no choice. "What do formal vows mean here? I have been on worlds enough to know that words and phrases sometimes carry drastically different expectations, and that an individual can sometimes carry unexpected expectations of their own."

He did step back, but only so that he could look her more fully in the face and eyes. He saw the glimmer of tears and had to wonder about just what her eyes had seen. "What does it mean to you?"

"Love. Honor. Cherish. I will not be any man's punching bag, a handy target upon which to heap abuse and humiliation. Trust. Partnership. Not a silent partner, or a mindless automaton endlessly repeating your opinions because I should have none of my own. Dignity. Respect. A lifetime commitment. The creation of new life."

Basch felt his gut clench as he realized that to Ivalice, all these things needed clarification because they were not always understood in the worlds she had seen. Anger boiled in his heart at the thought of any culture that condoned a man forcing any woman to endure abuse without retaliation.

"I swear to you," he said, his deep voice wrought with emotion, "all that you have said, I share. And . . ." he had to pause to control himself, "I will kill any man who raises a hand against you, including myself."

She smiled through tears. "If you were the kind of man to raise your hand that way, I wouldn't have chosen you. But cultural acceptance of a behavior creates patterns in the way even honorable men behave. I am not a helpless child anymore, not like I was once. Neither I, nor any child of mine, will suffer that way."

"Who hurt you?"

"It doesn't matter. I am not going back there. It probably isn't even the same world I left behind when I became a Traveler."

Reluctantly he nodded. "Very well." He pulled her close to him again and she felt the air against her back, and shivered slightly.

There was silence for a time.

"So what do we do now?" Ivalice kept her face buried in Basch's shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone is going to know what has happened the moment I step into that dining room with a silly grin on my face. They're probably going to tease us while they're at it."

"Except for Vaan, who has the blindness of youth, I think they already know. Balthier hinted at it when I thought that he was the one who made you cry in Rabanastre and Lady Ashe had to be the one to tell me. Fran seems to be observant enough and I fear that Penelo saw me as I entered."

"So there's no use hiding things, at least from them. But as for the rest of the world? What do you want?"

"I will follow your wishes."

She sighed. He was avoiding the question. "But what do you want? Do you want formal vows? Are you not certain yet? What of my position? I know – I know that you guard Ashe, at least until Vossler returns. Do you want my help? My brother would want me to do so, I'm sure of it."

"I want . . ." he was at a loss for words, "I want you. I want to make my vows to you before the world. I want sons and daughters born to us growing free in a restored Dalmasca. Until then . . . I will take what moments I can have and I would welcome your partnership in my duties."

She smiled. "Was that so difficult?"

"You cannot imagine." Then he kissed her again and Ivalice thought that her heart would burst from the pounding.

---

Penelo was waiting for them when they emerged from the room for supper. She didn't say anything, just grinned at them and ran down the hallway towards the dining chamber. Ivalice looked at Basch, who put on a stoic face. "We have to face them eventually."

"Death would be easier." Basch replied. Ivalice couldn't argue his point.

"This, too, shall pass."

---

Everyone else was already seated when they arrived, Basch holding Ivalice's arm. Upon seeing them, she flushed red and a silly grin spread across her face.

Balthier smiled at them. "You took long enough. Where were you, anyway?"

Penelo looked over at them with a grin. "I saw them coming out of her room, together."

Balthier lifted a sardonic eyebrow. "My, my, whatever could they have been doing in there that took so long?"

Vaan looked back and forth from the laughing Penelo to the chuckling Balthier to Fran, who smiled in humor, to Ashe, who softly laughed with a distracted look in her eyes. "What's going on?" His question caused the laughter to increase.

Basch did his best to maintain composure as he assisted Ivalice in being seated before taking the chair next to her.

Penelo leaned over to whisper to Vaan. "Basch and Ivalice are in loooooooove. They were kiiiiiiiissing." She drew out the vowels for effect.

Balthier raised his glass in a toast. "May you be terribly happy together."

Ondore waited for the laughter to fade as the soup was served before fixing Basch with a penetrating look. "I trust that your intentions towards the Emperor's daughter are entirely honorable, Captain?"

Ivalice stared at the soup and turned a deeper red. Basch glanced at her and wished that he dared wear his thoughts so openly. "Yes, your Grace, my intentions are honorable."

"Ah," the Marquis said, acting as if his mind was set at ease, "that is good to know."

"How long have you known?" Ivalice asked softly.

Ondore smiled at her. "I knew who you were when you first stepped into my office. I knew the direction of your heart when you stepped forward to stand with the Captain. I was unsure about the Captain, though, so I am gratified for you. What are your plans? What will you tell your father and Lord Larsa?"

Ivalice flushed again and Basch wanted to spare her the strain, but he could not. And in truth, he would not. Her position and the political considerations that accompanied it were as much a part of her as the powers she could not use. "We dare not make a public announcement until Basch's name is publicly cleared, if such is even possible. If we can restore Dalmasca, then a public celebration could do much to heal the people and the land. I – I do not know what to tell Larsa because to exonerate Basch is to convict Vayne, and Larsa adores his brother. I do not wish to be the one to break his illusions. He would hate me for it and I do not wish to lose his affections unless there is no other choice to save his life."

"What about your father?"

"I will have to tell him. He has been Emperor long enough to have lost most of his illusions and he would understand necessity. I owe him that much and I would hope that he would be happy for me."

Another smile crept across Ondore's face. "Of that, I am also certain."


	7. Chapter 7

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

By Mrs. Grizzley

Part Seven

Once supper was over and his guests had gone their separate ways, Ondore sat in his study composing a letter to the Archadian Emperor. He wasn't surprised when, several hours later, a servant entered to inform him that Lady Ashe had vanished – along with all of her party and the _Strahl_.

"Did they leave anything in their rooms?" he asked.

"Just this, milord, in the room where Lady Ivalice stayed." The servant placed a small stack of papers on his desk.

Ondore nodded to the servant, who bowed and left, and then idly glanced through the unfinished drafts of Ivalice's letter to her adoptive father. He decided to include them in his own letter of explanation.

---

Judge-Magister Gabranth was called in to speak with the Emperor, who inquired as to his brother and to his own loyalty to the Empire.

Gabranth declared that he would see his brother dead by his own hand. The Emperor sighed. "Your ruthlessness is not without merit. But what if the Empire is best served by the survival, not the destruction, of your brother?"

Gabranth was incredulous. "How could that be?"

"My daughter travels with him, aids him in his endeavors, and has developed a genuine attachment to him, one that is apparently reciprocated with great depth of feeling."

"My Emperor, are you saying that your daughter has become a traitor as well?"

"No, her loyalty is ever and always to Larsa, who will be Emperor after me. I ask you to use your ruthlessness for Larsa's sake, to be his shield in her absence, and even should she return, and to endure your brother's life should my daughter become your sister as well."

After a moment, with great reluctance, Gabranth bowed himself before the wishes of his Emperor.

---

They had to leave the _Strahl_ at the westernmost edge of the Dalmasca Westersand. The area beyond – the Ogir-Yensa and Nam-Yensa Sandseas – was in jagd, impassable to airships. So they were going to have to cross the length of the Sandseas on foot to find the Tomb of the Dynast-King, King Raithwall, and claim the treasures inside.

Ivalice gaped unashamedly at the flowing water-like sands of the sandsea with the round metal ruins rising above. The platforms had been built by the Rozarrian Empire to produce oil, and then abandoned after conflict with the Yensa, an insectoid sand-people.

Vossler caught up with them just as they were beginning the crossing. He said that he had found their whereabouts from Ondore. He said that everything for Dalmasca's restoration began with finding the Dawn Shard in Raithwall's Tomb.

"Ivalice?" Basch looked at her with concern.

She looked up at him, emotions warring in her eyes. "Is it that obvious?"

"You wear everything on your face."

"I'm probably just borrowing trouble again."

"But you do not believe so."

She sighed. "We only just heard about the Dawn Shard, a secret known only to the royal families, and he shows up and seems to already know all about it?"

"He was her companion and sole guardian for two years, the only one she trusted in all that time."

"It's possible she told him, but unlikely. I think she only just remembered it herself."

His face froze. "What are you saying?" He didn't want to hear it. He didn't want to think it. He had fought beside Vossler, had bled beside him, had ridden beside him to rescue King Raminas. But his duty to his Queen . . .

"Ghis saw him help us and we didn't kill Ghis. We don't know what happened to him after he left us."

"He is as loyal to Dalmasca as I am."

"Loyalty can be manipulated. I am loyal to my Nii-chan and see where I am?" She sighed. "Besides, anyone can be turned."

"What happened?" Her voice had betrayed a personal knowledge, and Basch found that he was curious.

"Wolf Eyes wasn't always an enemy. He was made a prisoner, tortured, broken, and turned. It is the reason we do not simply kill him. No matter what he has become, he is still family, and we still hope for his redemption." Two great teardrops fell.

Basch wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her close. "He tried to kill you, and worse, and still you pray for his redemption?"

"Always. He's my brother." She buried her face in his shoulder and let the tears fall.

Vossler saw them and walked over curiously. "You seem to have grown very close since we were together last, Basch, Lady Ivalice."

Ivalice nodded, wiping tears away. "We were speaking of my brother. Forgive my weakness."

Basch forced himself to maintain stoic silence as Vossler bowed to Ivalice. "Curious, is it not, Lady Ivalice, where your loyalty to your brother has taken you?"

"Yes, Vossler, very curious. I have to take care each day that my intentions do not carry me away from my goal."

Vossler bowed and took his leave and Ivalice slowly let out a held breath. "I do believe that we are in trouble."

Basch kept his voice very low, almost a whisper in her ear hidden in an affectionate gesture. "What do we do to protect the Queen?"

"We watch, and wait. As long as she does not see, we cannot speak of it. If Vayne is after Power, we cannot let him have the Dawn Shard, too."

"What of you? If, as you say, Vayne seeks Power . . ."

She trembled. "I would be Power Incarnate to him. I think a seal broke in Bhujerba, but until the ability manifests . . . I do not know what was unlocked. To him I may be a potential tool or a potential rival, I know not which. There is more; my children will inherit the Traveler gift."

Just then, Vaan called out to them. "Hey, if you two are done, we're ready to go."

With a sigh, Basch released her and stepped back. "Our children will be free to live their own lives. Vayne will not control them."

There was no more time for words, but Ivalice still worried. Power came in many forms, as did Control.

---

Mirari ran through the Doorway into a room of people having a celebration of some sort. She had an impression of dark blue uniforms interspersed among bright dots of color – a girl in a yellow jumper playing with a brown cowboy hat too big for her, a boy in very long blue shorts and a tattoo on his face, a tall boy in a brown duster. She looked around desperately, certain that she felt the presence of the one she sought.

A woman in a dark dress and very long black hair walked up to her. "May I help you?"

For a moment all Mirari saw was the hair and she was a wolf cub again, snarling at the Black Snake, until she realized that no Winnowill would wear an expression that kind and gentle. The momentary change in her stance, though, caught attention and Mirari realized that all these boys and girls were trained and experienced soldiers, warriors, as they immediately went into stances of their own to defend the woman.

"Matron? Is something wrong?" A boy with brown hair and a furred jacket emerged from a side balcony with a girl in blue at his side. Something about the fur and his stance reminded Mirari strongly of her Chieftess' father.

"Please," she said, "I'm looking for my mother. Have you seen her?"

There was silence. The leader-boy looked confused. "Your . . . mother?"

Just then the crowd parted at a girl with red hair streaked with white stepped through. She was wearing one of the dark blue uniforms, the more ornate set with the yellow and red accents. Mirari almost collapsed with relief. "It's okay, Squall. She means me."

Everyone gaped at her. Squall blinked. "You're a mother?"

"It's complicated. I'll have to explain later." She looked over at a portly man who was standing beside Matron. "Don't worry, Headmaster, I didn't break any school rules." There was a titter of nervous laughter and she looked at Mirari. "What is it, Starsong?"

Mirari stumbled forward and fell into her mother's arms. "It's Amelie, Mother, Goldeneyes. Wolf Eyes caught her on Abode and now her powers are sealed and she's seventeen again and there were two guys with her, a man and a boy, and you know how she'd always been about men versus boys, and I teased her, just a little, I had to, Mother, I asked if she shared, and . . . and she didn't tease me back. She turned as red as Pike's nose and couldn't say anything. Mother, I think she's in love with him and we've got to do something!" Everything came out in an ever-increasing wail.

The tall young man in the duster looked back and forth between them before leaning forward to ask in a stage whisper, "Uhm, Hallie, how can you be her mother if she's older than you are?"

Hallie sighed. "Because, Irvine Kinneas, I can be any age I want to be."

Squall looked concerned. "Do you guys need our help?"

Hallie shook her head. "You guys need a chance to rest. We were only just able to defeat Ultimecia. This is something I have to see to."

Squall offered her his hand. "If that is your decision, just remember that we are here for you. A SeeD doesn't have to fight alone."

There was laughter and the girl at his side smiled. "You were a long time learning that lesson, yourself, Squall."

Hallie took the offered hand. "I'll be back." Then she turned to Mirari as they started to leave. "Who is the man you saw with Goldeneyes?"

"B-basch fon Ronsenburg of Dalmasca. She lowered her voice when she introduced him."

Hallie stopped midstep as her eyes flew open. "Dalmasca? Oh, High Ones, we need to hurry."

"Why, Mother?"

"Because Goldeneyes' child will redeem Wolf Eyes, or destroy him and take his place."


	8. Chapter 8

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

By Mrs. Grizzley

Part Eight

They emerged from Raithwall's Tomb into the bright sunlight blinking against the glare. They had fought animated traps, ghosts, ghouls, zombies, the ever-present bats and then the inhuman guardian of the resting place itself. Raithwall's treasure was an Esper, a creature bound to a sigil that they could call into battle and control, to a degree.

But it was worth it because Ashe held the Dawn Shard in her hand.

Fran touched the crystal by the entrance. "That is strange. The crystal will not allow us transport back to Rabanastre."

Balthier shrugged. "I guess we'll have to walk back to the _Strahl_."

Ivalice felt her stomach harden into ice as Vaan started to run forward. "No, Vaan, wait!"

He stopped and looked back at her just as the airships filled the sky above them. The Empire had been waiting, and in jagd no less.

Ivalice didn't have time to think. She threw up an illusion around them, making them disappear from view. Luckily Vaan had run back to them when she had called out. Making all eight of them hide-in-plain-sight was almost more than she could do. As it was, she turned deathly pale and large beads of sweat began to stand out on her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Ashe asked. Basch caught Ivalice just as she started to waver.

"Hiding us." Ivalice panted. "Hurry, we have to escape."

With Basch supporting her shoulders Ivalice was able to walk as they began to make their way across the courtyard.

It almost looked like it was going to work when Vossler fell behind, checking something in his shoe. The airships spotted him and several of the drones hurried towards them.

"Vossler!" Basch shouted, but it was too late. The illusion-shield dropped as Ivalice collapsed. Basch caught her and lifted her in his arms as they were quickly surrounded.

Ashe looked concerned and put a hand on Basch's arm. "Will she be alright?"

Basch had to be honest. "I know not, Majesty."

Ashe nodded slowly. "I will not forget."

Imperial soldiers appeared to take them into custody.

Once on board the Leviathan, medics tried to take Ivalice from Basch and found themselves denied. Balthier and Fran stood in front of him with their weapons half-drawn and the entire group took on threatening stances. The medics backed slowly away and the sky pirates relaxed, but only slightly. Someone decided to be diplomatic about matters and decided that the medics would accompany the group to meet Judge Ghis, carrying a stretcher, just in case.

Ghis wasn't happy to see Ivalice pale and unconscious in Basch's arms, or to hear the beginnings of fevered ramblings. "What happened to Lady Ivalice? I instructed the medics to see to her."

The medics managed to look vaguely ashamed of themselves.

"She was hiding us from you." Vaan didn't look happy. Of course, neither did anyone else, but he was the only one young and naïve enough to tell Ghis the truth.

Ghis' expression approached awe. "So Lord Vayne was correct. She does have abilities that supersede magick." Awe abruptly changed to granite as he came to a decision. "Very well, Lady Ashe, you will turn Lady Ivalice and the nethicite over to me."

For a moment they thought that he meant the stone that Larsa had given Penelo. Until, that is, Vossler clarified things. Ghis wanted the Dawn Shard, deifacted nethicite as he called it. In exchange, the Empire would restore Dalmasca and Ashe would be Queen in truth. It was a simple trade, a stone for a throne.

When Ashe balked, Ghis drew his sword and held it at Balthier's neck. "Let us take this one for the people of Dalmasca."

"Well, at least your sword is pointed enough." Balthier commented in his uniquely sardonic style.

Ivalice cried out in her fever, distracting them all. "No, Yuna, don't give him the dressphere. Summon . . . summon Leviathan. The stone . . . it holds a memory. Materia holds the memories of the Ancients. I . . . I summoned . . . Choco Mog . . . Shiva . . . Ifrit . . . Titan . . . Ramuh . . . Odin . . . Bahamut . . ." Her voice faded a bit and then gained strength in a heart-rending plaint, "Oh, Nii-sama! Why? Why did you leave me behind? I would have followed you to Hell itself if you had come back for me!"

Ghis looked at Ivalice, his mouth twisting in frustration. "Now, Lady Ashe, I will have them both, and I will have them now, or your companions will die. Starting with this one!"

Ashe had no choice, and she knew it. She handed Ghis the Dawn Shard and then turned and laid and hand on Basch's arm. He met her eyes and she nodded once. He bowed his head to her and closed his eyes in pain.

Two medics rushed forward with the stretcher. Very gently, Basch bent over to lay Ivalice on the canvas. She cried out once, a painful, sorrowful sound, and then silenced when Basch ran his hand over her head, a fingertip brushing the stone that she wore. The stone that Mirari had given her. A stone that was supposed to call for help. A scrap of conversation came back to him, instructions on activation, and as he stood he put a fingertip on the stone and pressed, ever so gently. He felt, more than heard, the click and the hum that followed. It was all he could do.

The medics hurried away and Basch turned to stand with his Queen.

Ghis had been watching him. "Such tenderness. I should suspect you to be enamored of her, Captain." He turned to address his soldiers, "Escort her Majesty to the Shiva. She will be granted leave to return to Rabanastre soon, with the rest of her party."

After they were gone, he handed the Dawn Shard to a scientist to be tested in the only manner available. They inserted it directly into the engines.

In the medical bay of the Leviathan, Ivalice tossed and turned in her fever. Something was going to happen and she couldn't run.

On the Shiva, Vossler tried to speak with Ashe, who wasn't interested in listening. "We should contact Larsa; we can trust him."

"Who are you to speak of trust, after his sister spent herself to try to save us all?"

Vossler was more hurt than she knew, and she almost missed his reply. "A son of Dalmasca."

The testing of the Dawn Shard, though, threw Fran into a frenzy and she burst her shackles and attacked their guards. Balthier slipped out of his and turned to free Ashe, who thought Fran had the right idea.

Vossler, though, disagreed. If they ran then the Empire would not uphold their bargain, and his betrayal would be in vain. He had no choice. He raised his sword against his former companions.

And was defeated.

For a long moment, he and Basch stared at each other. Basch understood the loyalty that underscored his every disloyal act. In the end, Vossler gave Basch the only thing he had left – his responsibility towards their Queen, and Basch accepted. Then they ran, leaving Vossler in the bay of the Shiva as the Dawn Shard caused the Leviathan to explode, igniting every ship in the fleet.

Basch watched the explosion from the window of the vessel they had commandeered. He didn't scream, though his heart stopped and his soul shrieked within him. Ashe looked at him, guilt and grief in her eyes. It had been her will that he obeyed, leaving Ivalice on the Leviathan.

Just then Penelo spotted something in the fire where the Leviathan once was. "Isn't that the Dawn Shard?"

Balthier looked over. "What are we waiting for?" He piloted the tiny ship over to where the stone appeared and everyone gasped in surprise at what they found.

A giant bird hung motionless in the globe of fire. Then they realized that the globe was the bird, its burning wings bent around protectively over a burden it cradled in its claws. A woman, unconscious, hung limply in the claws of the flameborn bird, her clothing burned to scraps, but her skin apparently undamaged. Blonde hair with a streak of white floated free on the breeze, bound only by a ribbon tied around her head holding a stone that seemed to glow as brightly as the bird.

There wasn't even any discussion. Fran opened the hatch on the tiny ship and Basch climbed out as far as he dared and took hold of Ivalice's hand. The bird seemed to open its eyes and looked at him and then opened its claws so that Ivalice could slide out into Basch's waiting arms. When he had hold of her, the bird vanished in a flash of light-motes, leaving only a single red and yellow feather. Vaan caught the feather as it floated down and Basch gently climbed back into the ship.

Penelo had a blanket ready to wrap Ivalice in and Fran sealed the hatch behind them with a click. "Follow that stone, Balthier."

Balthier nodded and they took off as the Dawn Shard streaked off on a path of its own.

"What was that?" Vaan twirled the feather in his hands, but no one had an answer for him.


	9. Chapter 9

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Part Nine

Ivalice was still very weak when she woke after they had returned to the _Strahl_. She carefully turned her head to look around at the cabin she was in. She saw Basch seated in a chair in the corner, his head leaned against the wall, fast asleep. He looked so peaceful in sleep. She chuckled. Then she moaned because trying to laugh hurt. The moan was what woke Basch.

He looked at her a moment before he realized that she was awake. Then he smiled at her, a genuinely happy smile. "It is good to have you back, Ivalice."

"Glad to be back. What happened?" She tried to sit up, then hissed in pain, and had to lay back down.

He was at her side in a moment, kneeling beside the narrow cot. "What do you remember?"

"Remember? I remember the tomb, and the ships. I remember Vossler falling back, your shout." She closed her eyes in concentration. "I remember a snapping, and then your arms around me and your voice pleading for me to be alright. I remember voices arguing and you were angry. Something about a sword and a stone, which made no sense whatsoever. I remember sorrow and fear and your voice telling me goodbye, and that you loved me." A tear fell down her cheek. "It's the only time I ever heard you say it."

She took a deep breath. "I remember a- a shaking, a panic – or maybe the panic came first, it's all so jumbled. Then- then fire and pain and I heard your voice again, screaming 'No, no, no . . .' Then the Mother told me to sleep and I did."

Basch took her hands in his and she grew very concerned. "Basch, what happened? Your voice is so jumbled that I can't understand you."

Basch forced himself to take a deep breath and relax. It wasn't his speech that was in such disarray, it was his thoughts. Somehow, Ivalice was hearing his thoughts, so he worked to clear his mind. He had to tell her eventually.

"You were right. Vayne knows about your gifts and he told Judge Ghis. In return for our lives and the promise of Dalmasca's throne, Ghis forced Lady Ashe to surrender the Dawn Shard . . . and you. You were also right about Vossler, his loyalty to Dalmasca was turned against us. Before they took you away I activated the stone that was given to you. I believe that I hoped for your friend to appear and to carry you away even if it meant that I would lose you.

"We were taken to the Shiva and Fran . . ." His memory was so chaotic.

"Fran went berserk." Ivalice murmured, seeing the images he could not banish. "And you escaped. And Vossler . . ."

". . . took arms against us."

"And you accepted his duty to Ashe again." Basch nodded. "You tried to come back for me, but . . ."

"Leviathan exploded, taking the fleet with her. And, we thought, you." A single tear ran down his cheek and Ivalice marveled at it.

"So why am I here now?"

"A miracle." He produced the large red and yellow feather that had been left behind. "A giant bird of flames held you in its claws, until we had you again and then it vanished, leaving only this." He gave her the feather.

"Phoenix." Ivalice breathed. "Someone, something summoned Phoenix." She turned the feather over in her hands. "Mirari could have put a contingency on the stone. It was just supposed to contact her and let her know that I needed help. But since I was ill, and you activated it instead of me . . ."

There was a knock on the door and Vaan opened it slightly to look at them, smiling to see Ivalice awake. "Balthier says that we're about to land in Rabanastre. He knows a place to lay low until we decide what to do next."

The tear still glistened on Basch's cheek as he turned his head and nodded to Vaan to acknowledge the message. "My thanks."

Vaan nodded back. "I still have a wheeled chair from when . . . that Reks used. If we need it . . . Migelo could . . ."

"Thank you, Vaan." Ivalice smiled. "I think I might need it."

"I'll let Migelo know." Then he closed the door and they could hear his steps running down the hall.

When it was silent again, Ivalice looked at Basch with a tired smile. "I see that my telepathy unsealed." It was only later that Basch realized that she hadn't spoken aloud.

---

They had only just arrived in the rooms that Balthier had, had only just closed the door behind them, when the door burst back open and two girls came through. Vaan and Basch remembered Mirari – her shock-white hair was unmistakable – but the other girl, apparently between sixteen and seventeen, was unknown to them.

They ran straight over to where Ivalice sat.

"Mel!" Mirari cried out.

"Ne-sama, what happened to you?" called the other.

Mirari looked at her companion in surprise. "You call her 'Ne-sama'?"

The girl shrugged. "We change names so often, and no one wants someone shouting their soulname in a crowd . . ."

Ivalice gaped at them and then held out her arms to be hugged. "Destiny! I haven't seen you in forever! That uniform looks good on you!"

"It's Hallie right now, and thank you. You haven't answered my question, Ne-sama."

Ivalice smiled, but it was a bittersweet expression. She reached a hand out to brush Hallie's face with her fingertips. "I saw you born, when did you get so much older than me?"

"I had children, that ages a person. And you're avoiding the question. What happened to you?"

"My powers are sealed and I overextended the few I managed to unseal. Then there was an explosion and I got caught in it. Mirari's stone apparently summoned Phoenix to save me. We just got back here. We're hoping – we're hoping that I'll recover."

Hallie's face went deathly pale. "We need to speak privately. Now."

Ivalice nodded and then looked over at Ashe. "Lady Ashe, if you will excuse us?"

Ashe nodded and Balthier helped hold the door as Basch wheeled Ivalice into the next room. When Basch then closed the door behind them, but did not leave, Hallie looked from him to Ivalice and then back again. "Ah, I begin to understand. So this is the one that had Starsong in such a tizzy."

"Starsong?" Basch was confused.

"Mirari." Hallie explained. "Starsong was her tribename when she was born. She came running to me, frantic and babbling about how you," she looked at Ivalice, "hadn't teased her back when she teased you about a man. Well, if he's still here then your decision has been made and he might as well be family."

"We await formal vows." Ivalice looked at her hands.

Hallie laughed, a short, barking sound. "Since when does a Dreamsail need formal ceremonies for anything? Even I only waited for Recognition."

"What about your Prince?" Ivalice's voice was pointed.

Hallie's eyes looked sorrowful. "My Prince was different. I would have become mortal for him. Besides, I wasn't the one who wanted to wait."

Basch spoke up. "The decision was mine."

Hallie, almost, grinned. "Welcome to the family. I was born Destiny Dreamsail. It made sense at the time." She turned back to Ivalice. "I needed to talk to you privately because I've had the damage you have now. I need to know the exact circumstances of the sealing, and how you have been unsealing your powers. You could be in extreme danger."

Basch straightened and went very still. "But you recovered."

Hallie nodded. "Both times. The first wasn't that bad. I had just unsealed my abilities and overextended myself weaving a shirt with no seams. I was weak as a newborn kitten for weeks, but I was fully unsealed so I recovered. Besides, that wasn't an actual power sealing, it was a memory sealing. I had forgotten that I had powers, and how to use them. The second time was much worse. My abilities were still sealed, to a large extent, and I almost killed myself to save the life of an unborn child. I was under a lot of strain as it was and almost didn't make it. My saving grace was that I was in charge of the sealing and thus the unsealing. Unless we can fully unseal her powers, Ne-sama is dying."

Basch's face went absolutely expressionless, but Ivalice could hear his heart stop with fear. She reached her hand out to take his and silently told him that everything would be alright.

"Wolf Eyes caught me on Abode." Hallie drew in a hissing breath. "He's the one who sealed my powers. As for unsealing – well, the first seal shattered when I really needed a way to hide, and I got back some of my Illusion abilities, enough to hide myself and eventually a small group. The second shattered after we freed Basch and I received enough Healing to ease some bruises and restore circulation."

"What about the telepathy?"

Ivalice blinked. "You heard that?"

Hallie shook her head. "I'm skilled enough, and I've been around Wolfriders long enough to read body language. It only works with him?"

Ivalice nodded and blushed. "I'm not sure when that one shattered."

"You are going to make me scry it out, aren't you?" Hallie sighed in mock-frustration and then sat in a nearby chair and a web of lights appeared in front of her. She touched a few and then a picture grew out of it and Hallie drew in a breath and blushed slightly. "So that's what you were doing. Oh my. Well, that explains why it only works with him." She sighed and then glanced up at Basch, "you're good at that, Nii-san." He almost choked and she chuckled. "One of the disadvantages of living for centuries with the elves of Abode, no kissing, and I am human enough to appreciate a good snog, and that . . ." she touched the picture, " . . . is a good snog."

"How does this help Lady Ivalice?" Basch was stiffly formal.

"It helps a great deal. Give me a moment and I can follow the thread back." There was silence as she called up several more pictures and studied them. "Well, the bad news is that Wolf Eyes hadn't put any unsealing triggers in when he attacked you. He never intended for you to get your powers back. The good news is that he didn't touch your connection to the Mother Speaker, and she did."

Ivalice blinked. "The Mother is unsealing my powers?"

"Not precisely. She created the triggers. Which means that even though you are dying, you probably won't actually die."

Basch had to ask. "Why is that?"

"For the Mother Speaker to allow Ne-sama to actually die would be like killing part of herself. I'm not saying that she wouldn't do it, or that she couldn't, just that it's highly unlikely. Especially since the triggers seem to be linked to you."

Basch actually blinked in surprise. "Me?"

Hallie nodded. "The triggers were set in place when the two of you met in Rabanastre. The first was so that she could get to you in Nalbina, the second so that she could Heal you, the third to connect to you. Your desire to see her Healed as the fourth one primed and ready. When you figure out how to set it off then she'll have more of her Healing abilities, enough so that she will seem, almost, normal. The only cure, though, is complete unsealing and I don't know how many seals there are. You will relapse, Ne-sama, and you'll need to keep working at those seals. They are tied to events in this storyline, if that helps."

She paused and looked at the two of them. "There is something else that concerns both of you. Ne-sama will bear the one to redeem Wolf Eyes – or destroy him and take his place."

Basch closed his eyes and Ivalice gasped. "Is there anything we can . . ."

Hallie shook her head. "The Choice belongs to your child, Ne-sama, not you. You know how I am about Choices."

Ivalice bowed her head and Hallie banished the lights and the pictures and then stood. "I'll leave you alone." She offered a hand to Basch. "I know that your duty is to your Queen, and that she must come first, but protect Ne-sama, and the children she will bear."

Basch took the offered hand. "I swear it."

"Thank you." Then Hallie turned and left.

---

The silence was eerie as Hallie closed the door behind her and turned to face everyone. Ashe was the first to step forward. "Will Lady Ivalice recover?"

"She should, Lady Ashe, eventually. It's more than a little complicated so I'll let them explain as much as they want to. I've been through this and I'm still here."

Ashe nodded. "My thanks."

Hallie bowed her head in acknowledgement.

Mirari took two steps forward, "Mother?" Her eyes seemed to glow for a moment.

Hallie smiled hesitantly and then her eyes took on that same strange luminosity. For a moment, the two simply looked at each other, and then Mirari nodded slowly. "I'll tell Lys." A glow surrounded her and she vanished.

Hallie turned and tossed something to Balthier, who caught it easily. "A treasure for you as thanks for helping Ne-sama. If anything should happen – say, for instance, Wolf Eyes shows up to finish the job – press the stone and think as strongly as you can about your emergency. I'll do what I can."

Balthier bowed gallantly.

Then Hallie started to glow and was gone.

---

Some time later, the door opened and Basch emerged, with Ivalice. She was still weak, and leaned on him, but she was walking and looked stronger by the minute. It was time to decide what they would do next.


	10. Chapter 10

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Part Ten

Dalmasca was still not restored and though they had the Dawn Shard, they did not know how to use it. And if they were going to stand against Vayne and the Empire, then they needed power. Ashe resolved to use the Dawn Shard. So the decision was made to travel to Jahara, south of the Giza Plains, through the Ozomone Plains, to speak with the Garif, because magicite lore was taught to them from the cradle and maybe their Elder had the knowledge they needed.

Ivalice could smell moisture in the air as they walked through South Gate. The Rains had come to Giza, turning the familiar, arid lands that she and Vaan and Penelo had hunted to create their sunstone into a swampy marshland filled with rivers. Luckily, though, the Rains had also opened the southern pass into Ozmone. Ivalice could dimply remember a time before her Traveling days when she had enjoyed walking in the rain without an umbrella. It had given her mother fits.

A sudden fit of sneezing made her realize that this wasn't going to be as much fun. Basch was at her side in a moment. "Are you alright?"

Ivalice nodded in between sneezes. "I'll survive. There was a time when this would have been a lot of fun."

Balthier gestured to Vaan and Penelo, who were scooping water up and throwing it at each other. "At least some of us still think it is."

Fran started walking forward. "We should hurry. And beware, there are elementals about." Elementals didn't like anyone other than they using magick, but they were otherwise peaceable. It just made for an uncomfortably wet journey.

Once they crossed into Ozmone they were able to set up the tents and dry out before continuing across a flowering testament to old battles dotted with white and grey stone and ruined airships. Jahara was to the south and west.

Several times they stopped to rest on one pretense or another. Ashe was hungry. Penelo wanted to make daisy-chains. When Ivalice saw Penelo hanging those daisy chains over a Balthier who then helped her rebraid her hair . . . well, ideas started percolating in her head.

Given the fact that the last time she thought she saw something it turned out to be wrong, Ivalice decided to silently ask for a second opinion.

_Penelo? . . . and Balthier?_ Basch was stunned. _But she's a . . ._

_A child?_

Basch paused at the gentle reminder. Not that long ago he had thought the same about her. _I apologize. I deserve that. But she is so delicate._

_The term is turbo-cute. She is also a war-orphan who has lived parentless for two years now. As she told you, she is stronger than she looks._

_She has proven that._

_I'm not saying that there is no cause for alarm. She's not like me, she is seventeen in truth, and very innocent is ways that I will never be again. Barring complete memory erasure._

Basch almost choked. _That has happened?_

_Her name was Guenevere. I was her maidservant. I became a Traveler to help her._ Something in her mind's voice hinted at a closer relationship, almost familial. _You would not believe how delicate a person is after something like that._

Basch started to glare at Balthier who had his hands buried in Penelo's hair. _If he . . . I'll kill him._

Ivalice hid a smile. _I wonder though, . . . Balthier is an accomplished rake. He flirts out of instinct. He only teases me because he fears your sword . . ._

_As well he should._

_But surely other women have tried to trap him. I cannot believe that he is not well skilled in avoiding feminine lures. It could be that he is fascinated by her very innocence. As long as she does not try to play the coquette, he could be drawn in until he is trapped by his own games._

_I should like to see that._

_There's more, and the reason I need your eyes as well as mine. There are other possibilities. Lady Ashe will eventually require a husband, of sorts. If she is to be Queen, she will need heirs. And I have seen royalty fall for rogues so many times it is becoming cliché. They seem to need each other for some reason. Something about the roguish freedom and the royal responsibility._

_But the sky pirate . . . _

_. . . isn't the only rogue. Vaan is only two years younger than she, and he is a natural leader. They shared something in the Tomb. Whatever Ashe saw, Vaan saw it too. Even now they are connected by that experience. But Vaan is devoted to Penelo, who looks up to him in her own way._

_I believe my head is beginning to ache._

_And around and around it goes, where it stops . . . is anybody's guess. It could be worse. You could still be in the running._

_What course of action is open to us?_

_Quietly warn Balthier that if he takes advantage of a young girl's innocence that there is a special level of Hell reserved for him. He might be a rogue, but he's a gentleman one. He'll take your warning in the attitude in which it is given. He probably won't even bring me into the conversation. In the meantime, I'll be open to confidences. Let us hope someone states a preference, and soon. I do not fancy going mad again._

Basch agreed wholeheartedly.

---

They arrived in Jahara to hear talk of another hume boy-child come to seek Garif aid. Ivalice felt her heart clench with sudden hope. Would it be him? Could they travel together openly? Ashe was speaking with the Garif elder when he came walking up to join them.

Ivalice gave a joyful cry and ran to embrace Larsa. He colored at the display, but hugged her back. After a moment she let him go and stood at his side as he made is proposition to Ashe.

Travel with him to Mt. Bur-Omisace, where the Gran Kiltias, a holy man, could declare Dalmasca restored and Ashe Queen in truth. Then she would declare peace with the Empire and prevent a terrible war brewing between the Resistance forces, led by Marquis Ondore, and the Empire. A war whose battlefield would be the Dalmascan lands.

In the end Larsa offered himself up as hostage, and Ashe reluctantly agreed to travel with him. That night Ivalice stayed with her brother as guardian while Basch stood guard over Ashe.

The next morning they left for Mt. Bur-Omisace, by way of Golmore Jungle and the Paramina Rift.

---

Golmore Jungle, though, was blocked to them. In a rare show, Fran took charge and led them through a secret path to the village of her birth, a place where she was outcast. The sister she sought, Mjrn, was not there, having left the Wood to follow Fran. Now she was lost in a warren of armored humes to the south – the Henne magicite mines.

So they left the Jungle for the Mines, to find Mjrn. When they found her she was maddened by nethicite, a condition inflicted upon her by Imperial humes. Larsa took back the nethicite he had given Penelo. He had not known that it was so dangerous.

They were just outside the Mines, preparing to go back into the Jungle. Ivalice stood beside her brother, enjoying the slight breeze on the Ozmone Plains, when her knees suddenly gave way beneath her and she collapsed into the grass, deathly pale. Basch cried out and ran to her, but was not quite quick enough to catch her. He fell to his knees beside her and pulled her into his arms. "Ivalice? Ivalice!"

Larsa was frantic. "What is happening to my sister?"

Penelo fell to her knees and pulled Larsa back with both her arms around his chest, like he was her little brother, too. Ashe shouted for Balthier, who shouted for Fran to find a safe place for the tents. Vaan ran to help Fran and Mjrn unpack them and get them set up.

Larsa would not be silenced. "What is wrong with my sister?"

Basch's voice was harsh with emotion. "Lord Larsa, your sister is dying."

Larsa burst into tears and Penelo rocked him in her arms like he was a little child.

Balthier turned on Basch. "You never said that she was dying. Hallie said that she would recover."

"She will recover," Basch told him, "just as soon as we can unseal her powers. When they are restored then she will be restored. Until then, she is dying."

Larsa looked at Basch, his tear-ravaged face accusing. "How did this come to be?"

Basch bowed his head to the young prince. "Your sister has gifts that go beyond magick."

"She has explained this to me. Her powers are sealed. That was why she left Archades."

"Some few of her gifts have been unsealed. She . . . overextended herself in protecting Lady Ashe and the rest of us. The damage that she sustained at that time and in . . . the destruction of the Leviathan is what is killing her."

Larsa was silent, watching, as if seeing it for the first time, the gentle way that Basch held Ivalice and the way she clutched at his arms as she woke from her faint. After a moment he sat up and shrugged off Penelo's arms with a grateful smile. Then he reached out and took hold of one of Ivalice's hands.

"Tell me, my sister, how long has Captain Ronsenburg been your paramour?" Absolute silence reigned.

Ivalice flushed red and then sighed. "Since Bhujerba, after we returned with Lady Ashe."

"When were you going to tell me?"

She flushed a deeper color. "I was afraid to tell you, Nii-chan, afraid of what you would think."

"Do not misunderstand me, Sister, I do not disapprove. While we have traveled together he has seemed to me the most honorable of knights, but . . ."

"But he stands accused and convicted by the Empire for a treason he did not commit."

Larsa blinked his eyes in surprise. "Innocent?"

"Yes, Nii-chan, innocent. Do you think that Vayne would balk at making a blameless man seem guilty if it would serve his ends?"

Larsa looked troubled. "Vayne is very capable." He thought for a moment. "Captain Ronsenburg, what are your intentions towards my sister?"

Basch looked at Ivalice and then at Larsa. "My intentions are honorable. I seek nothing less than her hand."

"Would you give her the honor and the respect that are her due as an Imperial Daughter? Would you make her a mother as well as a wife? Would you join to her and none other?"

Everyone around them was silent and still as they witnessed the exchange. Basch's face was unreadable and his eyes were a mystery. "Yes."

Larsa turned to Ivalice. "Do you consent to be joined to this man? To be his wife and bear his sons? To give him the loyalty and the devotion that you now give to me? Do you choose this man, freely, willingly, and without constraint?"

Ivalice smiled wanly. "Yes."

Larsa took hold of one of Basch's hands and solemnly placed Ivalice's hand in it. "Her hand is yours, Captain, as I am the one who adopted her with my father's blessing. Father told me then that this day would come and that I should be prepared. I give you my approval. When peace is restored again, we will find a way to clear your name so that a public wedding may be held. Until then, Captain, consider her to be your wife in all things and me, your brother." He released their hands and sat back on his heels.

Ivalice drew in a breath as tears started to fall down her face. "Thank you, Nii-chan. Another seal just shattered. I should be alright soon."

"Never the less," he said, "I don't think we'll be going anywhere until morning. How are you breaking the seals, Sister?"

"I – I'm not sure. They're tied to events, I think. Hallie said that they were tied to Basch. Certainly the events that have broken them thus far have all involved him."

Larsa nodded. "Then, Captain, I ask you to do your utmost to help my sister break the seals with all speed."

Vaan came over to tell them that they had one of the tents up and ready. Basch nodded to him and lifted Ivalice in his arms, carrying her to it. Larsa walked beside them. "I should like to hear the circumstances of the other unsealings. We may be able to theorize about what would be required for the future. But that is for later. For now, I will guard Lady Ashe while you care for Ivalice."

Basch knelt to set Ivalice on the bedroll while Larsa stood. "May you be happy together." Larsa bowed to each of them and then left the tent, closing and tying the flap behind him.

---

Alone together for the first time since Rabanastre, Ivalice and Basch simply looked at each other for a long time, thoughts and half-formed thoughts flying back and forth. Finally Basch broke the silence. "What powers unlocked this time?"

"They're tied to the healing, some very fine control techniques. May I test them?"

"Yes."

She reached out a hand and touched an exposed area of his chest with a fingertip. He felt his face grow uncomfortably warm. He looked at her curiously.

"I'm making you blush." There seemed to be a hint of a laugh behind her smile. "I wanted to see what it looked like." She sobered then and the heat faded as she directed her attention elsewhere. His hands clenched, and not by his will. He felt muscles contract and relax on their own. It was a very strange time for him until Ivalice withdrew her hand.

Something in her face made him grow concerned. "Is there more?"

She nodded, her lips pursed as if afraid to speak.

"What is it, Ivalice?"

Tears sprang up in her eyes. "I need to test something, before my life – or the life of someone else – depends on it. Forgive me?" She looked at him pleadingly.

In a moment, he understood. Her heart told him what she needed to do, and why. He nodded, silently giving his permission. He had endured worse for less reason. He reached up and slid the buckled vest he wore from his shoulders, letting it fall down behind him. He opened the shirt beneath it so that his chest was exposed. No longer the thin shadow of a man they had rescued from Nalbina, Basch had filled back out and his muscles were strong again. He reached for her hands and took hold of both of them, his thumbs in her palms so that she couldn't shut them.

Tears fell from her eyes as he gently placed both hands fully on his chest and then held them there. She bit back a sob. "This, too, shall pass." It was a promise and he nodded his acceptance. He watched her close her eyes and concentrate.

It started as an itch, a crawling sensation like a thousand tiny insects were crawling over his body. The itch became a stinging that became a burning. He could feel the sweat gathering on his face as he struggled to remain silent. He knew that she was so upset by what she was doing that the least distraction would make her stop.

The burning became a throbbing that was interrupted by brief shooting stabs that grew stronger. He could feel his muscles begin to twitch in reaction to the pain. The tears fell faster down her face until, with a cry, she abruptly pulled her hands out of his grasp and curled up on herself. "Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me."

The pain faded and the twitching stopped. Basch pulled Ivalice into his arms and held her there, rocking her gently. "It is alright. There is nothing to forgive. Are you able to use this weapon against an enemy?"

"In a heartbeat, if Larsa or our children were threatened."

"Then it is well."

She sought his lips, needing comfort, and he was willing to give it. Silently he thanked to gods that she had not enjoyed the pain-giving. A torturer with such a gift . . . was a nightmare he feared considering.

Eventually the kisses became something else and this time Basch didn't hold back. Morning found them still in each other's arms.

---

They returned Mjrn to her people in the Wood and were able to obtain permission to continue on their journey. On the other side of the Jungle was the snow-bound Paramina Rift, and the path that pilgrims and refugees followed up to the haven of holy Mt. Bur-Omisace. An audience awaited them there, with the Gran Kiltias, and a mysterious enemy who was also a friend, and maybe, just maybe, the official restoration of Dalmasca.

* * *

And with that, the story reaches the furthest point I have reached in the game. I've got two saves for that game, one before the Mount Bur-Omisace cutscenes and one actually in the Stilshrine, before doing anything there. So I have actually seen the cutscenes, but I'll need to see them again to decide exactly how I want to approach inserting Ivalice into those events. I'll have to snag the strategy guide from my brother-in-law and see if I can play through some more of the game so that I can have more for those of you who are reading this next week. I have this recurring thought about completely deviating from the possible storyline at that point, since the strategy guide has screenshots that give me a decent idea about how things don't seem to work out for our heroes, but I dunno yet.

In the meantime, take a look at Chapter Three. I've got another save file that I'm going more slowly in and I'm taking the time to play-pause-write the cutscenes so that I have the actual dialogue to play with. My intention is to eventually rewrite all that I have done so far with an eye for more detail, more depth, and more in-game accuracy. I'll try to keep the story going, but I'll still be heavily summarizing.

Lemme know what you think.

Mrs. Grizzley


	11. Chapter 11

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Chapter Eleven

They climbed up Mt. Bur-Omisace, through the refugee settlement. Ivalice looked around and tears filled her eyes. Larsa took her hand, "Sister?"

"All these people, with nowhere else to go. No way to defend themselves. Limited resources. No industry. Nothing. This is supposed to be a temporary solution. A waystation of temporary safety. They need real homes and self-government and something to do other than sit all day mourning what is gone."

Balthier looked over at her. "Could you give them that?"

Ivalice sighed. "No, I can't. I probably shouldn't even if I could. No one can, or should, make people care for themselves. It's just so sad. It's a disaster waiting to happen."

---

Cran Kiltias Anastasis was silent when they entered. Vaan thought he was asleep, which wasn't entirely accurate. The Gran Kiltias dreamed. They were so close to the restoration of Dalmasca . . . until a voice from the back of the room asked them to reconsider.

Ivalice turned to look at the man who entered with the cocky, self-assured strut of the confirmed playboy. Al-Cid Margrace of Rozarria. Ivalice hid a grin at Larsa's dismay when Al-Cid didn't take his hand, but instead rubbed his hair.

The news that Al-Cid brought, though, changed everything. Emperor Gramis was dead, poisoned. The Senate blames and disbanded. Vayne made autocrat and determined to force this war.

Ivalice clenched her fists and shook with fury. For several moments she was speechless. Finally she screeched, "DAMN HIM!!!!" Larsa started in surprise. At least he wasn't stunned any longer.

"Ivalice?" The grief in his voice tore at her heart.

"Oh, Larsa." She enfolded him in her arms, holding him next to her heart. "Oh, Nii-chan . . . I am so sorry."

Al-Cid looked at her, seeing her for the first time. "So this is the sequestered Imperial Daughter."

Ivalice looked directly at him, tears in her golden eyes. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Al-Cid Margrace. I'm just sorry it had to be like this." She shook her head, murmuring emphatically, "Damn him! Damn him! Damn him!"

Ashe decided to change course. Now was not the time to restore Dalmasca. Without the power to defend it, restoring her throne would only invite disaster. The Gran Kiltias told them of an artifact left by the Dynast-King – a sword capable of destroying nethicite. It was hidden in the Stilshrine of Miriam to the south through the Paramina Rift.

Ivalice gasped as she suddenly remembered something. "Oh God! The letter!" She held Larsa by the shoulders and looked him in the face. "Did Father destroy the letter I left for him two years ago?"

Larsa was silent for a minute. "I- I don't know. I gave it to him as you asked."

Ashe looked at Ivalice. "What letter?"

Ivalice sighed and then looked at Ashe, straightening her shoulders. "Lady Ashe, when I fled Archades two years ago on the eve of the invasion, I left a letter for Emperor Gramis explaining myself. I told him who I was, where I came from, my sealed condition, and that I would always be loyal to Larsa. I also . . ." she paused, swallowing carefully, "I also told him why I was running, about Doctor Cid and my fear and . . . and how I didn't trust Vayne. If Vayne now has that letter . . ." She closed her eyes and enfolded Larsa again.

Basch put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him. "What of the letter you promised the Marquis that you were going to write?"

Her eyes grew round. "I started one. Started several, actually, but we left so quickly . . . The servants would have found the papers in my room . . . Oh God, what if Vayne now knows about you?"

Larsa pulled back from Ivalice and wiped a few tears from his cheeks. "he would not know about the betrothal. My sister, I wish for you to accompany Lady Ashe and her companions to the Stilshrine and give them your aid. When you return . . ." he choked up for a moment and then continued, "when you return I will ask the Gran Kiltias to personally officiate at your wedding."

Ivalice nodded and then kissed her brother on his forehead. "Thank you." She let her arms drop and started to follow Ashe and the others when she suddenly stumbled. Everyone turned as she regained her balance, gasping for breath. "The seals . . ."

Basch held out a hand and she took it. "How many of them? I heard the breaking."

She grinned at him. "I'm not sure. More than one, I know." She let go of his hand and rose into the air, smiling. "I can fly again." She reached a hand out and a globe of water rose into the air as well, and then trickled back down to the pool below. "The telekinesis."

Al-Cid looked at her, blinking. "You, my little friend," he said, addressing Larsa, "are going to have to tell me about this sister of yours."

Ivalice set back down on her feet. "Lady Ashe, let's do this as quickly as we can, with your leave."

Ashe nodded, and they hurried out to make their way to the Stilshrine of Miriam. Ivalice looked at the Gran Kiltias one last time. "Take care, and be wary. In the face of aggressive empires, harmless holy men have a distressing tendency to get themselves killed, and they don't die alone. Divine retribution almost always happens only when someone is willing to take a stand and take up a weapon to defend the defenseless." Then she turned and followed the others.

---

The flying meant, among other things, that Ivalice could go sword to claw with the other flying creatures. It was also a lot of fun.

---

The Stilshrine was big. And complicated. They had to rotate three statues just to get the central colossus to lift its sword enough so that they could get beyond it. They approached the final door and Ivalice shivered.

Fran looked at her. "What is it?"

She looked at the door. "There's a crystal just back a ways. Why don't we recharge ourselves a moment before opening that. Raithwall left another of his 'treasures' to stand guard. If we hit it quick, and hit it with Quickenings . . ."

Balthier nodded. "You are rather useful to have around, did you know that?"

Ivalice shrugged. "I try."

---

There was an Esper, and Mateus fell before their swords just as Belial had. They approached the Sword of Kings and watched the seals around it unlock in the presence of the Dawn Shard. Ashe reached her hand out to receive the sword, and was caught off guard by its weight.

The suggestion to destroy the Dawn Shard was a solid one, but Ashe decided otherwise. Whatever she saw, though, in the Mist coming from it, was for her eyes alone. Vaan saw nothing. Not even his brother.

They were stepping out of the Stilshrine when they saw Imperial ships, the Alexander and her entourage, flying away from Mt. Bur-Omisace. Even more ominous, smoke was rising from the holy mountain.

---

They arrived back at Mt. Bur-Omisace in the middle of a steady, drenching downpour. Almo9st like the mountain itself was mourning. Ivalice didn't like the look of things. It didn't take long for them to realize that the situation was worse than she feared.

The refugee camp was burning. Everywhere she looked, people who had already lost too much had now lost even more. All around her were hurts and injuries crying out to be eased. Her hands itched to Heal, so much so that she even started to reach out to a motherless child, bleeding from his arm.

Basch stopped her. "No, Ivalice. We don't have time and you would drain yourself to death. We must reach the summit."

With a sob, she nodded. "I know. Larsa may still be up there." Knowing that . . . didn't make leaving a crying child any easier.

---

At the summit they found Judge Bergan standing over the body of the Gran Kiltias. He spouted some rigamarole about Vayne being greater than the Dynast-King, greater than the gods, and Ivalice had a sinking feeling deep in her heart. Power had corrupted Bergan and Power was definitely Vayne's goal. But more than that, he was a threat to Ashe, and in Larsa's absence . . .

Bergan fell, consumed from within by the nethicite he had inserted into his own skeletal structure. Ivalice fell to her knees beside the Gran Kiltias, but it was too late. He was gone and not even she could tempt a spirit fled back to its fleshly home.

Penelo asked about Larsa and the welcome sound of a survivor's voice filled the room. It was Al-Cid. Ivalice was at his side in a moment, grateful that there was some one that she could Heal. She took one of his hands and set to work, even as he leaned on his maidservant. "What happened to Larsa?"

"Judge Gabranth spirited him away before all of this. He went peaceably enough; he thought to prevent further violence."

"A lot of good that did. Bergan was itching for it. You do realize that if his henchman is any indication, then Vayne intends to subjugate the whole world and he'll do it by goading your people into attacking him first so that he can be justified in annihilating you?"

"Tell me something I do not already know."

Ivalice let go of his hand and Al-Cid sat up, testing his muscles and finding that they all worked. "Feel better now?" she asked.

"It is a great pity for me that your brother has already seen to your betrothal. Your Captain is a man to be greatly envied."

She smiled. "I would not have been good for you. Power corrupts and I am a power source potentially worse than nethicite. I thank you, though, for the sentiment."

Al-Cid wanted Ashe to accompany him back to Rozarria, to convince the nobles there not to attack Vayne, but Ashe had other errands still incomplete. She intended to destroy the Dusk Shard. Finding it, though . . .

Balthier suggested Draklor Laboratory, in Archades. Archadian research began and ended there. Ivalice paled, but didn't bolt. She was rather proud of that.

Ashe looked at her. "Can you go with us?"

Ivalice managed to keep her voice steady. She was rather proud of that, too. "In my brother's absence, Lady Ashe, you stand in his stead. If you go, I will follow. I'm stronger than I was, and with all of you around me, I should be able to face Doctor Cid in his territory."

Ashe nodded. "How soon can we leave?"

"Immediately." Balthier told her.

---

Getting into Archadia, though, was going to be easier said than done. The air was probably patrolled. The waterways, too. So they were going to have to hoof it north past Nalbina, through the Mosphoran Highwastes, through the Salikawood, and across through a hunter's camp. This was going to be a long journey.

* * *

Well, got some playing done this morning, had some surprises in the cutscenes. Hope you guys like the story as it's developing. I'm trying not to forget any potential hooks from earlier, but I might miss one or two of them along the way.

Lemme know what you think.


	12. Chapter 12

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Part Twelve

They headed north from Nalbina. In the back of the group Penelo and Vaan whispered back and forth, occasionally giggling. Finally Penelo pushed Vaan forward, into Ivalice's back, and when they straightened, Vaan had her belt pouch in his hands. Ivalice glared at him and he smiled unrepentantly as Penelo snatched it out of his grasp and began working it open. At Balthier's look she shrugged. "Always wondered what she was carrying so close all these years.

Ivalice sighed. "Just a few forget-me-nots."

Penelo pulled out two round stones, one glowing orange and the other glowing red. "What're these?" she asked.

Balthier grew concerned. "Those aren't . . ."

Ivalice shook her head. "They aren't nethicite. They're closer to spherical magicite, but the term is wildly inaccurate. I got them from a woman who had just become a Traveler. Actually, I duplicated them. The red is of no use right now, but if you hand me the wristband with the plate on it, I can show you what the other does."

Vaan did so and everyone watched as Ivalice wrapped the band around her wrist, the square plate on it having several glowing stones set in a pattern. She took the orange stone and inserted it into the plate. It seemed to shrink until it was another stone in the pattern.

Ivalice took a deep breath and concentrated and they watched her clothing transform around her to a strange linen and lace outfit. A small rod-like object appeared and she grasped it out of the air and then struck a pose. "Ta Da!"

Balthier whistled. "Does it do anything else?"

Ivalice grinned. "It's best use is in front of a crowd. It's called Songstress and it's a Dressphere. While it's active I can sing and dance to grant bonuses to my allies or inflict ailments on my enemies. The sphere also contains the memories of a powerful songstress, Lenne, who loved a man so much that her love survived their deaths." She transformed back and unwrapped the band, looking at it a moment. "I've got a few other dresspheres here, but most of my accumulated toys are in storage."

Fran looked curious. "How did Lenne and her lover die?"

Ivalice sighed sorrowfully. "There was a war and Lenne had other abilities. She was ordered to the front lines. It was a death sentence, but she didn't mind so much, dying for her country even if they couldn't win. Her lover though, refused to accept her death. He never stopped trying to save her. They were killed when he tried to steal one of the enemy's weapons to use against them. A thousand years later their spirits were reunited and could finally rest together."

Basch looked at her. "What does the red stone do?"

She looked at him. "Summons Leviathan, the sea serpent."

Everyone was surprised. Ashe looked at the stone. "But the _Leviathan_ . . ."

"I know, was an airship. At least to you guys. To me, in other places, Leviathan, Ifrit, Shiva, Odin, Alexander, they were like the Espers, and I summoned them." There was silence as she reclaimed her belt pouch and put the treasures back in it. She put the pouch back on her belt and bowed to Ashe. "With your leave, Majesty, we need to continue our journey."

Ashe nodded and the group began walking again.

---

Through the Mosphoran Highwastes. Through the Salikawood. Down to the Phon Coast and into the Hunters camp there. Vaan and Penelo ran to the shore to laugh and to play in the water. Ivalice watched Balthier and Ashe speak, and Balthier opened up to the young Queen, coming very close to demonstrating a preference, but not quite.

She stood with Basch, his arms around her waist, watching Vaan and Penelo play with joyful abandon. "Looks like they're having fun." She told him.

Basch nodded. "They do, at that."

"No moment is ever the same twice, you know that? All the worlds I've seen and no two were ever the same. I changed, even if nothing else did. In a way, I'm almost glad that Wolf Eyes threw me in that cave. The cave brought me to Larsa, and I wouldn't give up knowing my Nii-chan for anything. And, in a way, the cave brought me to you."

He sighed and rested his chin on her head. "I understand, I think."

She took a deep breath as the sound of a seal breaking rang through their minds. "It's started."

"What?"

"The final seals. I just got my Hearing back."

"Hearing?"

She nodded. "Every Traveler has a unique sound, a signature that floats around them. Other Travelers can hear that sound. Some can Hear well enough to tell who it is. I can even distinguish the unique sound of an individual potential Traveler." Her voice faded as she looked over at him, her eyes going wide.

"What is it, Ivalice?"

She swallowed and blinked a couple of times. "You have Traveler potential." Her voice was hushed and surprised. "I should have known, I suppose. The Mother wouldn't put me in the path of someone I couldn't keep."

Basch struggled to put his thoughts into some sort of order. "When you say 'potential', what do you mean?"

"It means that you have the ability to become a Traveler. It's a gift that tends to follow bloodlines. More people have the potential than ever become Travelers, either because of a lack of need or an inability to cope with the worldview alteration. Sometimes it awakens on its own, most often during the tumultuous adolescent years, but any Traveler can awaken the potential in anyone who has it." She paused. "It's an invitation to a very complicated life."

He nodded and squeezed her closer to him. "I can see that." He was silent for a time. "I choose to let it be for now. We have enough . . . complications in our lives at this time. When you powers are unsealed and you are well, when Dalmasca is restored and this war averted, then I will consider allowing you to awaken this gift."

She nodded and then leaned her head against his shoulder. "I do love you, Basch."

He sighed and rocked her gently in his arms. "I know."

---

A voice called out to them as they were about to leave the hunter's camp for the northern Phon Coast and, beyond it, the Tchita Uplands and the Sochen Cave Palace below Archades. "Ivalice!"

Ivalice turned and smiled to see Mirari running up to them, her arms full with a haversack whose top kept threatening to open. "Hey, Mirari, what did you find out?"

She reached them and stopped, pausing to catch her breath. "You remember how Clark convinced you that Sephiroth wasn't your fault?"

Ivalice's eyes went round. "How did you know about Nii-dono?"

"Never mind that. I tracked him down. Remember what he showed you?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes."

"That was Seven. This is Twelve."

Ivalice paled. "But that means . . ."

"I know. I'm so sorry. But at least you'll have to do it and not Larsa. Still, as Star Wars as this particular variation is, you can still hope Gabranth pulls a Vader and does the deed for you, if you guys don't kill him first. I wasn't actually able to play through and find out."

"It's okay. We'll find out when the time comes. What have you got there?"

Mirari pushed the haversack into Ivalice's arms. It was awkwardly full of weapons, wrist cuffs, and glowing round stones. "I took your name to Cloud. Yuffie opened her personal collection to me when I reassured her that they'd all still be there when I got done. Vincent sent a few of his own guns. He said something about you being the daughter he'd wished he'd had. I grabbed as many of the material as I could, most of the summons, some of the support like Sneak Attack, Final Attack, a bunch of Alls, Double Slash, Mug. I'm not sure what all I got, I just duplicated everything that looked useful. You'll have to sort through it. Oh, and W-Item is in there. Since you can't dupe stuff on your own yet, I thought it'd come in handy."

Ivalice was in shock. "You didn't have to . . ."

Mirari shrugged. "I know. But you know how I am about sisters. Mother jokes that she should have named me Sorority, but she didn't want me acting too much like my father. Which reminds me, Clark is worried about you and Mr. and Mrs. Kent are nigh frantic. You've been gone a whole week when you said it was only going to be a couple of days and your mother, in particular, was screeching about how they're under enough stress with Clark and his disappearing act last summer, not to mention the Vegas incident that happened while you were gone. People are starting to ask questions and Lex has been by no less than three times looking for you. Were you stupid enough to let him know about you? You know what he's going to become."

"Better he knows about me than he knows about Clark." Ivalice didn't quite snap at Mirari, but she wasn't very patient. Mirari seemed to take it in stride. "I spun a fairy story about Travelers saving orphan children of dying worlds and blessing them with abnormal luck. Goodness knows your mother has probably done it before. I also dangled a carrot. If he can prove willing to die rather than use my secret for his gain, then I'd help him become the kind of man that Clark could trust. He could do such good . . ."

"Still trying to redeem them?"

"I have to. It's part of who I am. Lys was the same way."

"I never understood her, either. In any event, the Kents want you to come home as soon as you can and finish your senior year. Going on to college is your own choice, but they want you to do that much, at least."

Ivalice nodded slowly. "Alright. When things here get to a resolution and I'm unsealed, I'll return to Smallville and I'll make sure it's in no more than a week from when you were there. Thank goodness time between worlds is malleable." Ivalice paused. "Thank you, Ree, for everything."

Mirari smiled. "Lemme know when the wedding is and I'll make sure Lys is here for it, too. Take care of yourself, Mel." Ivalice nodded and Mirari disappeared.

Ivalice arranged the haversack on her shoulders and turned to the rest of the group. "Are we ready to go? It's still a ways to Archades."

---

_Ivalice . . ._ Basch was worried.

_I'm all right, Beloved. Just a bit stunned. Yuffie hoards materia. To open her collection like that . . . And Vincent . . . Emotions ran through her in torrents too swift and deep to identify._

_What of this brother? This Clark?_

_Clark is Clark. In his way, he's more important than I am. Like Larsa. I chose to be his sister because I knew that I could trust him. I would not have to redeem him. And I knew that his life would be easier with someone strange like me nearby._

_Why? Who is he that you would ease his life?_

_Not a Traveler, but not like everyone else. One day he will be Superman._ Even thinking the word carried images of greatness, bigger than Kings, more powerful than Emperors, and more humble than a child. _In short, he is what Vayne seeks to become, but will never achieve. Vayne is just a man, and can only be what he is. A man's fundamental nature cannot be changed. Clark is not just a man. He never was and can never be just a man. He is Superman and he has all the responsibilities and all the burdens that come with that._

_And if he were to follow Vayne's path?_

Ivalice shuddered. _That's why I ran. I saw it happen in a nightmare. Clark doesn't want to be the conqueror that he has the power to be. He just doesn't know yet what his other options are._

_And you can tell him._

_Yes. Because I know who Superman is and will be. I know that he has nothing to fear from his destiny. And I know what it's like to be different._ Years of baggage were carried in that thought.

A voice broke in on the mental conversation. "Ivalice?" It was Penelo.

"Yes?" She looked at her friend, who had a puzzled expression on her face. "What is it?"

"What did your friend mean by 'Star Wars'?"

Ivalice grinned. "It's a world, sort of. I can show you guys, if we have a spare afternoon. My illusion skills should be up to it."

"What do you mean, 'show' us?" Balthier was curious.

Ivalice grinned bigger. "It's a story about a **boy** from a **desert**," she started ticking off points on her fingers, "rescuing a **princess** who's leading a **rebellion** against an **Empire** personified by a power hungry '**Emperor**' and a . . . **lieutenant** in ominous **armor** and a **helmet** who is ruthless to a fault. Anyway, the boy and the princess are aided by a **Knight** of a fallen **Republic** who has been missing for a while and a **rogue** with a flying **vessel** and a non-human **partner**. There's a **skycity** centered around **mining**, whose leader is trying to maintain **independence** from the Empire and ends up working with the rebellion anyways. We haven't seen the **juggernaut of a military vessel** yet, but it's probably in the works."

Ashe's eyes were round and wide. She looked at their surroundings for a moment. They hadn't yet left the hunter's camp, but it was very close. "You can show us this story?"

Ivalice nodded. "Yes. Easily. With a little practice I could probably recite all three of the movies, but nothing beats the visual effect of seeing the battles."

Ashe nodded. "How long would this take?"

Ivalice shrugged. "Four and a half, six hours for Episodes Four, Five, and Six. The first three were about Vader's slide into evil and, while visually breathtaking, aren't as linked to us in anything other than some of those visual elements."

Ashe came to a decision. "I want to see these stories. We need to hurry, but I believe this is something we must make time to accomplish."

Ivalice nodded. "You find a spot and I'll set up the screen. Anyone want a snack?"

---

Hours later the final movie drew to a close with the celebration on Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star. There was stunned silence in the group. Finally Vaan spoke up. "So that Death Star . . ."

Ivalice shrugged. "If I had to guess, given the naming patterns for everything else, I'd say it'd be called the _Bahamut_. I haven't seen anything about it yet, but we'll probably run into the plans for it in Draklor Laboratory, if we don't see it being built with our own eyes. That is, provided that the parallels keep going. I'm not like Destiny, I can't actually see the future as it develops, but I am very good with patterns and parallels. The _Bahamut_ will either be draconically shaped, kinda like the _Alexander_ actually looked like the Alexander that I saw in another world, or it'll be round like the Death Star, though I kinda doubt that your world will draw the parallels **quite** that strongly. After all, none of the more identifiable lines have been used yet, and I was waiting for Ghis to tell Ondore, 'I have altered the deal, pray I do not alter it any further'." She burst out laughing.

"You have an unusual sense of the humorous." Balthier didn't quite frown.

Ivalice sobered, but still smiled. "I have to laugh or I'd cry. It's a side effect of seeing so many stories play out around me. Some of the simplest things will set me off because I've seen them somewhere else and my mind makes the connection between parallels. Like Lady Ashe asking you to kidnap her. The whole 'rogue kidnapping a willing princess' has happened before and it always ends up more complicated than initially intended. His name was Zidane and hers was Garnet, though they called her Dagger, and she fell in love with him and him with her until the day he had to order her to leave him behind to rescue their enemy while she escaped to safety. Zidane had a noble streak a mile wide. I see connections to him in Vaan and in you, mostly the charm for you. Zidane certainly did like the ladies."

Ashe nodded. "Well, now we know what to keep our eyes open for. You will tell me if any more parallels appear that could help us know what is developing?"

Ivalice nodded back. "Yes, Majesty." They began standing again and gathering their things together. They still had a long way to go and a short time to get there.


	13. Chapter 13

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

By Mrs. Grizzley

Part Thirteen

Ivalice looked at the gaping entrance to the Sochen Cave Palace and shuddered. Beyond this was Archades and the Draklor Laboratory, the very place she had been avoiding for two years and then some. Vaan was skeptical of getting through to the Imperial city through a "rabbit hole" but Balthier reassured him. This was the back door since they didn't dare enter through the front.

Which brought up the question of how they were going to move around in the city without getting snapped up by the guard. Ashe pointed out that even if their names were known, their faces were not.

Ivalice sighed. "Your face might not be known, Majesty, but mine is. Particularly my eyes. The common guardsman might believe that I have been sequestered away for my own safety and protection, but the captains and higher would almost certainly be on the lookout. Especially with Vayne in power and seeking to solidify his grasp on any possible weapon." Her hands clenched in fear.

"An illusion?" Balthier suggested.

She shook her head. "If I were to collapse then the illusion would drop and immediately invite suspicion questioning the need for it in the first place."

Penelo took her hand and started to pull her to follow Vaan into the cave. "We'll think of something, don't worry. Since it's just you, and not all of us, we'll just stand around you while you keep your eyes down. I think I know some hairstyles that'll hide that streak. . . ."

---

They came out of the dank and dark of the Sochen Cave Palace into the dank and stench of the Old City slums, where the living refuse of the city was thrown. Ivalice saw a couple children run by and remembered the Sector Seven slums below Midgar, and Tifa's bar. It seemed so long ago and yet . . . here she was again, sneaking through a slum to get to a tower after a scientist.

Getting past the guards at the entrance to the city proper meant learning to deal in the only currency Archades valued, information. Their education came at the hands of a "streetear", Jules, who seemed almost dishonestly familiar with Balthier, who had reasons of his own to remain anonymous in this rumormongering city. A word to a man who had lost a purse about a man who had found one caused a fight, and a needed distraction for the guards who had blocked their path.

Ivalice was beside Balthier when he commented on Jules' apparent generosity, and Jules told him that the information of his return was very valuable indeed. Then Jules looked at Ivalice. "Not to mention the appearance of Lord Larsa's sister on the streets of the Imperial City after her two-year retreat."

Ivalice gasped and stared at Jules, her eyes wide in fear. Balthier grabbed Jules by the throat, instantly a hunting cat again. "If I even think you're peddling that tidbit, I'll kill you myself."

Once the stunned look passed, Jules' face slowly smiled. "Affection?" he asked. "Has the sky pirate fallen?"

Balthier's face hardened and he waved Ivalice on to rejoin the others. "Friendship." He told Jules. "Just friendship. Her brother has seen to her betrothal to another. And if that one got a hold of you, anything I could do would seem merciful." He abruptly let go and turned, leaving a thoughtful Jules behind, rubbing his neck.

---

Balthier caught up with them as Vaan ran forward to gape at the city. He put a hand Ivalice's shoulder as she watched her friends. "Forgive me, I told him about the betrothal. It'll be all over the city inside a week."

She nodded. "It's okay. I am, in fact, familiar with information currency. To keep one secret he had to have another to sell. Did you tell him with whom?"

"No, I left that to his imagination."

"Better. When confronted, Larsa can tell the truth or make something up." She paused. "Ever wonder how things would have turned out if I had met you before Basch?"

"Every day, Ivalice, every day."

She smiled to herself. "What about the Princess? Or Penelo? Every leading man must have his leading lady."

Balthier looked at her, his eyes innocently wide. "Why, Ivalice, I do believe you are fishing."

She shrugged. "Penelo is crushing on you. Vaan she can squabble and play with, but you are fascinating to her, a figure of mystery and danger, and as close to full grown as she is comfortable with."

"I have been warned about her." He managed to sound so neutral.

"At my suggestion. If you decide that you prefer her innocence to the nobility of the Princess, then I will support and aid your choice. Either way, of course, I would aid you. Still, Royalty and Rogues are moths and flames to each other."

"Ah, Han and Leia."

"Precisely. It is your choice. I just wished to make you aware of it."

He bowed slightly. "My thanks. I shall consider my options."

---

Shortly after entering the city, Balthier took his leave to see about some matters.

While waiting to hear back from him, the group managed to do some shopping. And then, while Vaan played lookout, Ivalice stopped to sort through her haversack some. She couldn't believe the sheer number of materia Mirari had stuffed into it. "Did Yuffie keep all the materia we gathered? I'm counting no less than five Fires, not to mention the mass load of cures. And I'm sure that's a Master Summon."

"How did you get so many?" Basch asked.

Ivalice sighed. "Other than a tendency to search every possible nook and cranny and side trail along the way? Materia gain experience like we do. Every time we'd max one out it'd make a new one. Some material, like the elements and Cure, we'd just switch out the Mastered one for a new one and keep going. Every so often we'd sell one, but we mastered Alls so quickly and they sold for so much, that we didn't need the gil and would stockpile them." Ivalice reached into the bottom of the bag and pulled out a gun that looked unlike any that Basch had seen. Tears came to her eyes. "Oh Vincent . . ." she breathed. "I can only put Mastered materia in this one, but I'm setting it up." She paused. "Vincent, bless him, let Mirari duplicate Death Penalty. His ultimate weapon." Her voice carried all the awe and respect of a daughter inheriting her father's weapon.

Basch blinked as in an instant her heart told him about this Vincent, who should have been her father. About how he silently loved Lucrecia, whom he had been set to guard. About how he had fought death itself to return to her. About how he had helped them defeat Sephiroth, Lucrecia's son and her Nii-sama. He nodded his understanding and added his own. He found that he could respect this man.

Ivalice began picking out several materia, lining them up in front of her in preparation. "I want Mega-All, Double Cut, something with Added Effect, something with Elemental." She was murmuring softly to herself. "I don't need to worry so much about the magic, I get that through licenses. If I have a set of pouches I can change elements on the fly . . . I need to summon. Final Attack Phoenix? No, we've got Phoenix Downs on Gambit. Sneak Attack Odin? Bit heavy on the MP. Definitely Counterattack. That would free up my accessory spot . . . Time! Time with Added Effect on defense. That should work like Auto-Haste. Elements on Offense, one of each in pouches." She pulled out a bracelet that had dips in it for the materia, then paused. "But what about the dresspheres? Hmm . . ." She looked up to see that Fran and Ashe were becoming impatient. She looked back at the materia. "Mega All, Double Cut, Counterattack, Bahamut, Fire, Elemental, Destruction, Added Effect." She slid the materia into place along the underside of the barrel and the looped a belt over her hips with pouches holding alternate elemental magic materia. After a bit of thought she slid Poison into the belt as well. The rest quickly went back into the haversack and Ivalice slung the weapon across her back. "I'm ready to go. Sorry about the wait."

Ashe nodded. "Let's go, then."

---

Balthier was ready for them in Central, but the cab fare had them running all over gathering chops. Ivalice didn't like the way Jules looked at Death Penalty, but didn't dare say anything.

When they finally got to Central, Balthier was waiting for them, and he wasn't happy. Turned out, he had given Jules the cab fare to give to them. Unfortunately, the delay gave the Imperials time to tighten security in relation to other matters, namely the dissolution of the Senate, so they missed their chance to sneak in the service entrance of Draklor Laboratory. Jules, though, had a solution. A cabbie who knew where to take them. Balthier was furious, but he didn't want to take it out on his companions.

The cabby dropped them off on a terrace on the 66th floor. Ivalice almost groaned when Balthier said that Cid's office was near the top. It was the stinking Shinra building all over again. Seventy Everlasting-forsaken floors. Cid's office was actually on the 67th floor, but Ivalice knew full well that they weren't going to find him that easily. They opened the door to find that someone had gotten there before them, and had trashed the place.

Ivalice looked around the room as Balthier looked over the desk. Balthier found a key card, no surprise there. Ivalice picked up a set of papers with shaking hands. "Oh, I am in deep kimchee."

Basch looked at her, concerned, as did Balthier, but Ashe was the first to speak. "What have you found?"

"A listing. Descriptions. Personal emblems." She turned the pages over, looking through them. "These fell out of a book. Is there a book with a broken binding around here?"

Penelo found it and helped Ivalice gather up the pages. Ivalice's hands were shaking harder than ever. "What is it?" Balthier asked.

Ivalice held up the cover to show him. It was simply titled, "Dramsol: House Dreamsail and the Travelers". Balthier hissed in anger. "His obsession is nethicite. Why . . .?"

"Why, indeed?" Ivalice's voice cracked. "I can think of a few reasons offhand. Foremost being the duplication power. An unlimited supply of nethicite. If I could have been forced, on pain of Larsa's safety, to endlessly duplicate nethicite, or worse, to create it . . ." Her voice faded in fear. "Or he could have thought to drain my power, which is tremendous, into the nethicite. Traveler powers have a strong tendency to respond to belief. If he believed that my power was simply stronger than magick, not something completely different . . ."

Ashe walked up to her and took the book out of her hands and nodded to Basch. "We take this with us. We will not leave it here to be found by an underling." She slid it into her bag and nodded to Balthier. "Where do we go next?"

Just then alarms started ringing. The confusion would cover their activities.

---

They stepped out of the elevator on the 70th floor and were attacked by a man using twin swords. Ivalice cried out a warning and Basch caught the attack with his sword, holding firm in the contest of strength. Then, suddenly, the attacker released him, pulling back as they did not serve Cid. The erstwhile attacker ran off to follow Cid's taunting voice.

Once he was gone, Ivalice ran to Basch. "Are you alright?"

Basch smiled at her, a small smile, but still . . . "I am well." The thoughts of his heart, though, made her blush. They didn't have much time, though, so the group moved on towards Cid.

The man who had attacked them stood on the rooftop opposite Cid, trying to talk him out of his madness. Balthier taunted his father and Cidolphus Demen Bunansa noticed them.

Ivalice quietly switched her accessory for the bracelet in her pouch and activated Songstress. When it came to music, she could multitask to an extent. She might not be able to dance, but she could keep up a song and still fight, and she knew a perfect one to taunt the devil out of CDB.

Balthier demanded the Dusk Shard and Cid called it a "trinket". Especially in light of the treasures behind him. Cid bowed to Ashe and then Ivalice. "Ah, Goldeneyes Dreamsail, our own golden-eyed Ivalice Solidor. So good to see you again. Your hasty departure prevented further acquaintance two years ago. Your own lust for power must rival that of Lady Ashe by now. Tell me, do you seek nethicite to break your seals or to add to your power?"

Ivalice clenched her teeth against a sudden wave of nausea as Fran noticed that he used nethicite just as Bergan had. Damn, it was getting worse.

_Ivalice! What's wrong?_ Basch was worried, very worried.

_I'll be all right. Continued exposure to nethicite, and a similar stone, is starting to build up a toxicity. It's trying to poison me._ She clenched her teeth against another wave of nausea. _And in my weakened state . . . I need to purge, but the stuff is corruption itself. I can't risk it contaminating an innocent._

Cid decided to test Ashe, and the fight was on. Ivalice was able to lose herself in battle, and the nausea receded as one by one the nethicite machina surrounding Cid were destroyed. With a grin she entered the fight, wielding Death Penalty and surprising Cid. None of them had ever seen a gun fire as fast as Death Penalty did.

The final blow, though, was prevented by Cid's phantasmal companion, Venat. Ivalice had a sinking feeling in her gut as Cid challenged them to follow him to Giruvegan, the ancient city, and more nethicite. Then he flew off and Ivalice had to second Balthier's sentiment. "I hate it when he does that."

The man with the twin swords introduced himself. He was Reddas the sky pirate of Balfonheim. He had ready transportation away from Archades, if Lady Ashe and her party wished to accompany him. Ashe agreed to travel to Balfonheim with Reddas.

Ivalice laid a hand on Balthier's arm as they retreated from Draklor Laboratory. "Your father isn't mad."

Balthier looked at her in surprise. "What makes you say that? You, of all people?"

"Oh, he's obsessed, and corrupted by the obsession, but he isn't a madman. It's worse, sort of, and better. He's possessed. Venat . . . probably seduced him with knowledge, and then power. One of two things probably happened, given how this sort of thing has played out elsewhere. Either Venat came to him as a 'helpful' spirit or he came upon the place where Venat was imprisoned and the spirit overcame him by sheer power. Given that he seems more the willing accomplice to Venat, I suspect the first."

Balthier grimaced. "Do you have any good news?"

Ivalice was somber as she nodded, her golden eyes sympathetic as they watched his face. "Your father will be freed once we defeat Venat. For a time he will once again be the man you remember as your father, but . . ." She paused, sorrowful, "But defeating Venat will probably spell your father's death. The methods used to free a man entrapped as your father is . . . are violent. Especially since I am not given leave to simply command the spirit to leave him."

Balthier blinked in surprise. "You can do that?"

She nodded slowly. "It isn't even a Traveler power. It is more basic than that, and more complicated. In any event, The Mother forbids it at this time. Our only option, then, is to defeat Venat, and your father, through force of arms. Venat will leave him. And you will be able to make your peace with your true father before he dies."

Tears ringed his eyes and he blinked to keep them from falling. "How powerful a Healer are you?"

She sighed. "I will do what I am able, once he is freed. For the scientist-father who was mine, and who I could not save. Mine was mad, and so there was no moment of lucidity in which to ask, and receive, forgiveness. I swear to you, I will do my utmost to save the life of your father."

Balthier nodded. "I envy your Captain, for the treasure which is his, and which I cannot steal."

She smiled, a bittersweet expression. "Then make your choice, and find a treasure for yourself greater than any which could be stolen."

"But she wouldn't be you."

"She would be yours."

---

They entered Reddas' ship and Balthier took the other pirate aside for a murmured conversation. Reddas' face took on a sly expression and he glanced at Ashe. The sly expression, though, faded to surprise as Balthier shook his head. Finally he nodded and gestured and Balthier took his leave as Reddas set about preparing to leave Archades.

After a moment Balthier stood next to Basch and spoke to him in a low voice. "There's a private cabin in the back, with a door that locks from the inside. We'll be several hours to Balfonheim, if you two wish some time alone."

Basch looked carefully at Balthier. "I almost suspect you of something."

Balthier shrugged. "In my line of work, a true friend is a rare commodity, and I count both of you as true friends."

After a moment Basch offered his hand to Balthier. "My gratitude, then, as a friend." Balthier took the offered hand and then he left to see to the assorted items they'd picked up on the road while Basch quietly took Ivalice to the back, and locked the door behind them.

* * *

Well, I'm plowing ahead as I play through the game, so if I'm inferring stuff that's incorrect, . . . ugh. Maybe I'll catch it on the rewrite. I caught a few variations in fanfic descriptions, some interesting ideas, but I have no clue how canon any of them are. I talked to my brother, who has played slightly further into the game than I have, though he still hasn't finished it either, and some of the things he's saying are bringing up all sorts of disturbing thoughts, not to mention his take on the Balthier/Fran relationship is different than mine.

I did, though, rewrite chapter four, if anyone wants to take a look, and moved some of the stuff from the end of four into five pending rewrite of five. The Ivalice/Balthier dynamic is taking a turn I hadn't anticipated. If only I had known some of this before I started writing . . . But still, makes for some interesting conversations and character development.

And, sadly, since my imagination is always plowing further ahead than I can write, I'm developing ideas for the shift into Smallville following this story. Ugh, Ivalice with Basch opens cans of worms in Smallville that don't exist in Final Fantasy, and me being me, I've got to give the worms their due. I'd be shortchanging the story and the characters if I didn't make them deal with all the messes they create.

As always, I live for reader response, the more detailed the better, though I know how difficult that can be some days.

Mrs. Grizzley


	14. Chapter 14

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Part Fourteen

Ashe found Balthier staring out a window at the sky. There was an almost mournful look on his face. "You love her too, don't you?"

"What?" He looked startled, and then saw her, and calmed down. "Oh, your Highness, I didn't hear your approach." He looked back out the window. "If, by 'her', you mean Ivalice, then yes, I do. She is a treasure, forever just out of my reach." He sighed.

"Does she know?"

"Yes. She keeps telling me to find my treasure elsewhere." He sighed again. "How did Basch figure it out? He was so clueless before Bhujerba."

"I told him."

Balthier turned to look at Ashe in surprise. "You? How did you manage that?"

"Ivalice believed that he loved me, and so tried to play matchmaker. I could hear it in her voice when she spoke of him. I confronted Basch in private on the matter and then sent him to her."

Balthier laughed softly, a dry, self-mocking sound. "They are a matched pair, those two. Basch confronted me on the way to Bhujerba. He thought that she was enamoured of me, but I lacked the courage to tell him. I suppose I'll never know what could have been." His voice faded in self-reflection.

"What will you do now?"

"Now, Highness? I have chosen to accept the treasure I can reach, her friendship, and his." He looked at Ashe, a strange, considering look in his eyes. "And perhaps one day I, too, will find a treasure no other man can steal." He bowed to her and then turned and left.

Ashe watched him walk away in silence.

---

They arrived in Balfonheim without incident. Once there, Lady Ashe and her party closeted with Reddas to discuss the events in Draklor, and their next move.

War was coming, and no one was very happy about it. Vayne was manipulating them, drawing them out to the battlefield to be crushed, but not by nethicite. Cid had the nethicite, and Cid was on his way to Giruvegan.

Ivalice shook her head to clear it. "Something's not right here. What if . . . What if the nethicite isn't Vayne's coup de grace? There's still a 'Death Star' out there, a Bahamut. What if he were merely exchanging goods with Cid? Acquiring the nethicite in exchange for building the ultimate sky fortress?"

Ashe looked at her. "We have not yet seen anything of this fortress yet, and we know that Cid and the nethicite journey to Giruvegan."

Ivalice put both hands on her head. "Will you forget about the nethicite for a moment, please?" She grimaced in pain. "The Mother is shouting that there is a Bahamut and that . . . that you could be in danger."

Several voices shouted and Basch stepped forward. "What do you mean?"

Ivalice blinked several times and slowly lowered her hands. "Now that she's no longer shouting at me . . ." She looked directly at Ashe. "You told me to warn you if I saw anything that looked familiar. Your fixation on the nethicite is very familiar, indeed. I saw it in the eyes of the man who killed my Nii-sama, with my aid." She took a deep breath. "His name was Cloud Strife, and he hated my Nii-sama. Hated him so much that he couldn't let go. Hated him so much that we followed even rumors of him across the world. Hated him so much that we unearthed a weapon that could destroy the whole planet – to keep it out of his hands, we told ourselves. But Cloud's hatred, his inability to let go . . . Nii-sama was using these things to control Cloud, to bring him, and the weapon, within reach, where he usurped Cloud's will and forced him to surrender the very thing he had desired all along – the ability to destroy the planet.

"We stopped Nii-sama, defeated and destroyed him, but Cloud . . . still hasn't recovered from that hatred. He still can't let go. I fear that you walk his path, Majesty, that you seek the nethicite because it seeks you. I've already had to kill one brother corrupted by power, and I know full well that the death of another lies at the end of this road. But please, Majesty, for the love of God, please learn to let go. Before the power, or the fear, of the nethicite corrupts you, too.

Ashe was thoughtful as they prepared to depart for Giruvegan, south of the Golmore Jungle, through the Feywood, to a place of thick and roiling Mist in the Jagd Difohr.

---

The Feywood was choking-thick with Mist. The scent of it made the back of Ivalice's throat itch. Basch watched her in concern as her color steadily paled and she started to stumble more and more often. After something cleared the path into the southern Feywood, though, she fell in a faint and Balthier called a halt.

She woke in Basch's arms after only a few moments, and felt her stomach rebel against her. With a look of panic she rolled away from him and purged on the forest floor. Balthier had backed up hurredly when he saw the look on her face. He knew better than to be within projectile range when someone was that violently sick.

After a moment she was done, and knelt, trembling, trying to regain control of her body. Ashe offered her a handkerchief, which Ivalice gratefully accepted. She slowly wiped her mouth.

"I'm sorry about this."

Ashe shook her head. "Are you going to be well enough to continue?"

"I should be. I think it's the nethicite, that and all this Mist."

Balthier shrugged. "There is another explanation, if you're willing to consider it." Ivalice looked at him curiously. He shrugged again. "We've been on the road how many weeks since the Holy Mountain? I knew a young lady once who began feeling unwell the very next day. Left little room for doubt as to who else was involved." The whole group was silent and looked at Ivalice, whose eyes had gotten huge.

"Is it possible?" Ivalice spoke in an awe-stricken whisper. She glanced at Basch, who was possibly even more stunned than she was.

He looked back at her. "Is there any way to be certain?"

She slowly nodded. "I'm a healer. I should be able to sense that sort of thing, especially in my own body." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating. After several tense moments she opened them again and tears fell down her cheeks. Basch felt his stomach flip as her heart told him what she had found. She nodded slowly, for everyone else's benefit. "It's true."

Ashe smiled, though it was vaguely bittersweet. Penelo fairly crowed for joy and almost knocked Ivalice over hugging her. Balthier clapped Basch on the shoulder, "Congratulations." He even managed not to sound as envious as he felt.

"What?" Vaan was confused.

Everyone laughed and Penelo rolled her eyes at him. "Ivalice is going to have a baby." She paused. "With Basch." She added for clarification.

Vaan frowned at her. "I'm not a complete idiot."

"Really?" She was still grinning at him. "I wondered."

Vaan started chasing her around and around the group to the sound of laughter, and a strange stirring in his heart.

They still had a journey to complete, though. It was with somewhat lighter hearts that they entered the foggy Mists of southern Feywood in search of the gates to Giruvegan.

---

Giruvegan's gates opened to the power of the Gigas, Belial. Once inside there was no sign of Doctor Cid. The Mist was also thicker, if possible. As thick as the Mist in Nabudis. As thick as the Mist that destroyed the _Leviathan_. Vaan and Penelo looked at Fran, to be certain that she would be alright. Fran was grateful for their concern.

Balthier said that they would wait for Cid where they were, but Ashe was staring into the Mist and, after a moment, started walking into the city. Penelo was confused and asked what was wrong with her. Vaan told them that she saw "him" again and took off after her. Ivalice sighed in worry and fear. Someone, or thing, had a hook in the young Queen and was pulling her along like a helpless fish. Basch, in the silences of his heart, agreed with her. But Ashe was his Queen, and they did not have the authority to prevent her from going where she willed. All they could do was follow along and protect her on the way.

The city paths took them deeper and deeper in, to a giant crystal that may or may not have been nethicite. Vaan was more curious than scared. He didn't know what lay ahead and he actually liked it. He was becoming more the sky pirate every day, a fact that was lost on no one. Especially Balthier, who wasn't quite as adventurous as he once was.

Ivalice remained mostly silent as they journeyed deeper and deeper into Giruvegan. The wonder of carrying life filled her heart and she was often lost in thought. More than once, though, her heart reached out to Basch, to banish fears that rose up against her will.

Fears of losing him. Fears of losing their child. Fears of waking again from madness and losing them both as if they had never been.

Basch did his best to comfort her. He would always be with her and together they would raise their child in freedom. As for her other, more esoteric, fears; all he could do was be the rock she clung to and hope that it was enough.

It was.

---

They had to defeat, and acquire, another Esper – Shemhazai – but eventually they made their way to the last Waystone. With a deep breath, Ashe activated the stone and they were transported to a platform high above the ruined city of Giruvegan.

At that point Ashe vanished from sight and they could only listen, helpless, as the Occuria gave their Queen a command that made Ivalice's heart sink.

"How dare they?! How dare they?!" Ivalice muttered angrily.

Basch put his arms around her and she leaned into him, tense with fury. He shared her anger, though he was more controlled. He could never have carried every emotion, every thought, on his face the way she did. He found it endearing in her.

When Ashe reappeared, Vaan rushed forward. "Ashe! Who are they to tell you what to do?" She looked at them in surprise, holding the Treaty-Sword in both hands.

Fran walked up beside her. "Will you do it?"

Basch and Ivalice were next to reach her. "We have always been the arbiters of our own destinies." Basch said. "Majesty, I am against this."

Ashe was silent.

Ivalice shook with anger. "How dare they presume to command you to do their dirty work?! If you must judge someone guilty, judge Venat, judge Vayne, but not the Empire as a whole, not my Nii-chan."

Ashe looked at her, considering. "Would you fight against me if I did?"

Ivalice straightened and met her eyes.

Balthier shrugged. "She turned on me over him. I'd take care, if I were you, Princess. She is very protective of the boy."

"I know one thing I'd do." Ivalice said, her hands clenching. "I wouldn't be stupid enough to lay all the blame on you. I'd do what I had to do to preserve Larsa, but once he was safe I'd come back here and I'd lay blame where blame is due."

She stepped forward and shook her fists in the air. "You hear me?! I'd come back here and I'd level this whole place! Who are you to claim the right to order our lives around like so many pieces on a chessboard?! If you are so all-fired protective of this world, and interested in its survival, why hand out weapons like the nethicite in the first place?! Any idiot knows that anything worth doing can be used for war! That the two drives of creativity are entertainment and destruction! You don't know what I am! You don't know what I can do!"

Everyone looked at Ivalice. Vaan reached a hand out. "Ivalice? Are you all right?"

Ivalice's attention was firmly on the ghostly presences of the Occuria. She knew that they were listening. They couldn't help it, the interfering monstrosities. They were going to find that they had messed with the wrong woman.

"I know what I am! I am the living avatar of the Mother Speaker! I was cut away from her like any shard of your damned Sun-Cryst. While others fought the Shade, DarKheist, I sat in a room with my friends and played a game. I was the one who decided that Guenevere would sleep. I decided that she would wake as innocent as a newborn. I decided that I would cut away a part of myself, to surrender my Name and become a Traveler. I decided that this Mother-shard would be there to guide Guenevere's innocence."

Basch drew in a breath. He'd known, but he hadn't known. So this was the kinship that he had sensed in Ivalice's heart. Closer than twins, closer than he and his brother, Ivalice and this Guenevere had once been the same woman, the same girl, he corrected.

"I willingly surrendered my Name and my free will for the chance to walk in worlds I had only dreamed of. As much as I may argue with The Mother, as much as I may resent her, I cannot deny that we are the same person! I swear to you! If my Nii-chan is threatened in any way because of your vendetta, I am calling upon The Mother's power and I am destroying you!"

The sound of seals shattering filled the air and Ivalice laughed, half in delight and half in relief. Basch could feel the flood of power that rushed through her, healing the last of the damage from the explosion of the _Leviathan_. Then her mind's voice rang through all of them.

_Know me and beware! I am free!_

Ivalice turned back towards her friends with a grin plastered across her face. She bowed to Ashe. "What is your will, Majesty? I'll contact Larsa on the way."

Ashe nodded. "We will travel to this Sun-Cryst."

Finding the Sun-Cryst, though, was going to be easier said than done. Doctor Cid had sent them on a wild goose chase. He wasn't going to show his face in Giruvegan. They decided to go back to Balfonheim and speak to Reddas, and see if he had any clues that might help them.

---

Larsa walked out of the room where Vayne and Doctor Cid spoke. He wanted to believe that Ashe would prove that she preferred peace to war, but he had a bad feeling, particularly about how quick Gabranth was to speak of putting the Princess to the sword, and about how often Vayne asked him where Ivalice was. Rumors had flooded the city that she had been seen, and that a bethrothal had been sealed.

When asked, Larsa never denied the betrothal, but he hadn't yet named who he had given his sister to, either.

_Larsa._

He looked around at the sound of the voice. He could have sworn he heard her calling him.

_Larsa. Nii-chan._

"Ivalice?" It was her voice. Only she ever called him that. "Where are you?"

_Quietly, Nii-chan. I'm still far away. My powers are unsealed. I am well. Just think to me. I will hear you._

Tears fell down his face as he found a nook to hide in. _Are you coming home now?_

_Soon. Ashe has been . . ._ There was a pause. _Ashe has been commanded to find the source of the deifacted nethicite by its creators. It's complicated, Little Brother, can you handle the unvarnished truth?_

Something in her tone worried him. He didn't know. _I miss you so much._

Her voice ached with a similar longing. _I miss you, too, Nii-chan. I have news. It should make you happy. Basch and I are going to have a baby. We just found out ourselves._

Larsa felt like crowing. New life in House Solidor. She was right; her news made him very happy indeed. _Can I tell Vayne?_

He felt Ivalice come to a decision. _If you want. Tell Gabranth while you're at it. I wish I could see their faces when you do._

_Vayne has sent Gabranth to determine if the Lady Ashe seeks peace or war. He's been told to kill her if she seeks war._ Larsa was very worried. He trusted Ashe, but . . .

Ivalice seemed to bite off several naughty words that Larsa wasn't supposed to know. _That conniving son of a . . ._ She paused to calm herself. _We may not have a choice, Nii-chan. I don't think that Ashe, herself, has decided which path she will follow. The Occuria commanded her to seek revenge. We advised otherwise. War can be avoided, even now, but the one to take those steps isn't Ashe, it's Vayne, and I doubt that he would be willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the Empire._

_I would._ Larsa was so innocent, and so innocently strong in his ideals.

_I know, Little Brother, but it will not come to that. Not for you. No matter what happens, you will survive this conflagration. The fact of the matter is that even if Ashe were to spite the Occuria, to seek peace with Vayne, they have pronounced his defeat because he has set himself against __**them**__. If not Ashe, then another will be chosen to rise up against Vayne and the Empire and you can be certain that it would not be someone as responsible or as noble as the Lady Ashe. Whoever they chose next would not care about the innocent lives caught in the middle._

_How can this be?_

He sensed, more than heard, the sorrowful sigh in his sister's heart. He also sensed the regretful decision. _In your room, on your pillow, is a stone. It is round and flat and grey like a river-pebble. It also glows slightly. Carry it with you at all times. If you are in danger, or threatened, clutch it tightly and I'll find you and carry you to safety. If you feel that you are strong enough, the stone will show you the absolute truth of this whole journey, the war that was and the war that may yet be. Hold it in your palm, flat, and concentrate on the glow._ She paused again._ I swear to you, Nii-chan, there is no deception when hearts and minds speak like this. The stone will show you the accurate events in all their honor and shame. There has been only one perfect human, and he isn't your brother, or me, for that matter. Every person is a mixture of vice and virtue, though seeing both sides is sometimes difficult. I love you, Nii-chan._

_I love you, too, Ivalice._ He was crying again.

_I have to go. I'll talk to you again._

_Soon?_

_Soon._ She promised him. Then she was gone and he was alone again.

---

Larsa quickly retrieved the stone from his room and dropped it in a pocket and then ran to catch up with the departing Gabranth. Gabranth turned to look curiously at the young lord who pulled on his gauntlet.

"Yes, Lord Larsa?" he asked.

"I have been given a message of hope to share with you, Judge Gabranth." The boy seemed genuinely joyful, despite the smudges on his cheeks.

"And this message, Lord Larsa?"

The boy grinned. "My sister is pleased to announce to you that your brother is expecting his first child. They travel with the Lady Ashe in the hopes of preventing war. I expect that part of the peaceful arrangements to follow these worrisome times will be the celebration of their marriage."

Gabranth went completely still. "So the talk of a betrothal . . ."

"Is true, Judge Gabranth. I sealed it myself while I journeyed with them some weeks past. Now, if you will pardon me," he bowed politely, "I still need to tell my brother."

Gabranth bowed in return and Larsa ran off. Gabranth watched him, lost in thought, and remembering the promises made to one now gone.

* * *

Ahh, the complications of storytelling!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, my future plans for these characters have been completely hijacked. I will be going almost completely to original fiction after this story and I've got a transition in mind. However, my characters aren't happy with me. And that's putting it mildly.

I don't know yet where I will be posting my original fiction, but I'm working on it. Here's to future endeavors. Oh, and I still plan on finishing the game first.

Mrs. Grizzley


	15. Chapter 15

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Part Fifteen

They left Giruvegan for Balfonheim with mixed emotions. And it was those conflicting thoughts which Reddas saw in their eyes as they entered his presence in the middle of what seemed to be a rescue operation.

"Was Cid false as I feared?" he asked.

Ashe nodded. "But we may have caught a glimpse of his true intent."

Reddas looked around the room. "And what is the joy that conflicts so with the sorrow?"

Ivalice grinned and blushed at the expression that kept returning to her face. She took a deep breath and glanced at Basch. Then she turned back to Reddas. "New life."

Reddas smiled at her, his eyes softening as he did so. "New life, now there is cause for joy and celebration, if we had time and leave." He paused, bowing to her and Basch. "My congratulations to you both."

The discussion then got down to where they might find this "tower on a distant shore" where the Sun-Cryst lay hidden. Reddas had sent his men to investigate the lighthouse at the Ridorana Cataract where they had suddenly becalmed. The area was in thick Mist, and thus deep jagd.

This lighthouse was their goal, and the only way there was to fly, but how to fly in jagd?

Reddas gave a skystone to Balthier, a skystone made to resist jagd – more plunder from Draklor. But Reddas' ship was a Bhujerban model, and Balthier's was an Imperial one. What did not fit in the one might in the other.

When they began to set out, though, Reddas had one request. He wished to accompany them. Ashe was curious about why he would do so much to aid them. His reason was a simple one.

Nabudis.

No, it wasn't his homeland. It was a memory, burned forever into his heart. Ivalice looked at him closely for a moment.

"You were there, weren't you? You were in Nabudis the night it . . . the night of the explosion." Her voice trembled slightly.

He did not reply, merely bowed his head before her.

"I thought your voice was familiar. You were kind to me, once, sheltered me when I needed to hide, gave me wings when I needed to fly."

He nodded. "And I would do so again, Lady Ivalice."

Ashe looked at her curiously. Basch put a hand on her arm. Ivalice turned to face all of them. Her shrug was eloquent. "He helped me escape from Archades."

There were nods of understanding as the group filed out into the streets of Balfonheim on their way to the Aerodrome.

---

Once outside, Nono, Balthier's moogle mechanic, took charge of the skystone to fit it into the Strahl. It would be ready whenever they were.

They had time to see to some shopping before they made their way to the Aerodrome, and the flight to the Pharos at Ridorana.

---

The Ridorana Cataract was an amazing sight. A giant cliff face in the middle of the sea, with falling water sending up a mist to rival the Mist that surrounded the peak of the tower that rose up from the ruins of a city below. Balthier secured the Strahl at the edge of the city before they exited.

Before they left to make their way to the tower, Balthier had a word for Vaan. "If anything untoward should happen to me, you're taking the Strahl."

"Untoward?" Vaan couldn't believe his ears.

Balthier shrugged. "I am the leading man, after all. Might have to do something heroic."

Ivalice felt a shiver deep in her heart. She met Balthier's eyes. "Just make sure that you survive. Heroes have a distressing tendency to get themselves and others killed."

He smiled at her concern, strangely warmed by it. "I'm the leading man, Lady Ivalice. Different rules apply."

She nodded slowly. "Still, take care. If you have made your choice then I am honor-bound to move heaven and earth for you."

He bowed gallantly and they rejoined the group just walking into the city.

---

The great doors to the Pharos had a message waiting, carved into a wall nearby. A message for Ashe from the Dynast-King himself. In ancient letters he spoke to a future child, chosen by the Occuria to bear nethicite's power and he warned them to cut their own path. Fran asked Ashe if she knew what was meant by the obscure language. Ashe didn't answer.

Ivalice looked closely at the writing. It was weird, how normal the letters almost looked. "I think . . . I think he knew." Everyone looked at her. "I think he knew that he was only playing a role in the story that the Occuria were trying to write. I've written stories in the past and I've had to shanghai unwilling characters into following a path I set down for them to follow. Every time I did that, it didn't work. It never does when you're dealing with characters who have been created well, who have lives of their own." She looked at Ashe. "I think he's telling you to break free of their manipulations, to do what he didn't have the strength to do."

Ashe looked thoughtful, and silently led them into the tower.

---

It wasn't long, though, before Ivalice started grumbling, and she grumbled the entire time they climbed the Pharos, the lighthouse of the Occuria. She wasn't hesitant, she didn't regret coming with them, she wasn't even grumbling at them. It almost became humorous, the way she grumbled at the messages left by the builders of the Pharos, exulting the Occuria and peonizing the mortals. "Damn," Ivalice groused, "I just might head back to Giruvegan after all this is over and flatten the place on general principles. Arrogant bastards!"

Balthier glanced at her. "This is their monument."

"I'm functionally immortal, myself," Ivalice said, drawing raised eyebrows all around, "but you don't see me erecting monuments to my own stupidity and over-inflated ego, do you?"

"Maybe," Fran considered, "they are young immortals."

Ivalice laughed out loud. "Ah Elar! That makes so much sense! They're children, adolescents playing at immortality! Thank God I outgrew that phase long ago. Goodness knows, I was young and stupid enough for three before I became a Traveler."

Reddas looked curious. "Such as, Lady Ivalice?"

Ivalice shrugged. "I did the Goddess thing for a while. The Mother is still trying to undo the remnants of that particular idiocy. I didn't have much of an ego to trip over at that age, so when I did I tended to fall hard. And, for a while, I kept wanting to make people behave and get along. It never really worked. I had some strong drama-queen tendencies that didn't really get to flower until I had Traveler powers to play with." She thought a moment. "I was actually rather lucky. I didn't get involved in anything illicit or illegal and I had a group of friends who didn't push me in that direction. Still, I was . . ." She paused, adding on her finger, "about twenty when I became a Traveler and at seventeen Vaan is more mature than I was."

"Hey!" Vaan exclaimed, not sure if he was complimented or insulted. His reaction drew a round of laughter.

Penelo spoke up. "You have some odd words now and then, Ivalice."

Ivalice nodded. "I have a dozen cultures worth of peculiar vocabulary to draw from. When I use a word, it is for a specific reason. Usually involving shades of meaning that I, personally, developed. The best example, I suppose, is Nii-sama." She sighed. "I go to the Japanese for that particular term because 'Big Brother' has strong negative connotations in English involving overly involved governmental figures. And in the beginning I meant every bit of the respect and honor carried by the Japanese –sama suffix. Later it took on a more ironic twist as I tried to remind him of all that he once was."

"And you had to destroy him." Basch's voice was somber, out of sorrow for her and the guilt she still carried.

She nodded. "The scary part is that if he hadn't abandoned me, I'd have helped him. And not even Cloud could have stopped him then."

---

They approached the final lift and Ivalice paused, looking at it. "Uhm, are we up for several bad fights in a row?"

Reddas looked confused as Balthier merely nodded to Ivalice and started to head back towards the crystal that was just a few steps away.

"I do not understand." Reddas said.

Balthier shrugged. "Ivalice has an exceptional ability to sense the need to rejuvenate our powers before moving on. Luckily there's almost always a crystal nearby to help."

Reddas nodded slowly. "Very well."

---

Ivalice was right. The lift paused on the way to the top and they were attacked by an Esper, and the Esper fell defeated before them, adding his strength to their arsenal.

The lift then resumed and when they reached the top, there was the Sun-Cryst waiting for them.

Ashe stepped forward, carrying both swords, still undecided about which path she would take. Would she acquiesce to the Occuria and be vessel of their wrath, their manipulation, seeking vengeance against the Empire? Or would she strike the Sun-Cryst with the Dynast-King's sword, and destroy it and, with it, the ability of the Occuria to meddle in mortal history, freeing them to write their own?

Ashe took a few more steps and raised the Treaty-Sword.

The Sun-Cryst responded to the Occuria-blade with an impressive show of pyrotechnics that dispelled the webs of solid Mist that surrounded it, opening itself to a strike that would create new shards of power, new stones to tempt and twist mortals dancing on Occuria-strings.

Ashe appeared undecided and the Mist coalesced into a shape that stood before her, smiling slightly in the glow of the Sun-Cryst. Only this time, they all saw him. Basch stepped forward, startled. "Lord Rastler!" he called out.

Ivalice put a hand on his arm and he glanced back at her worried face.

Vaan, though, understood the truth. Nothing they did would change the past. Nothing would bring back their fallen ones.

Ashe dropped both swords to the ground. The Dalmasca she loved, the Dalmasca she wished to see restored, had never depended upon the Dusk Shard. And she could not believe that Rastler, as short as their time together had been, would ever have wished for her to follow the path of vengeance.

Then Gabranth appeared, shouting to the young Queen that he, and he alone, was the one who had killed her father. That he was the one who had worn Basch's face, framed his twin for treason. For a moment it looked as though rage would get the better of Ashe.

Ivalice rushed forward to put herself between Gabranth and Ashe. "No, Gabranth, don't do this! What you did was an act of war. But remember your duty! Just like me, you are sworn to guard Larsa, and Larsa himself desires her safety! He commanded me to aid her!"

Gabranth focused on her, freed now from her father's command as she had brought herself to his attention. "How could you?" he asked in a voice verging on grief. "How could you leave him like that? How could you join yourself to my brother, traitor that he is? House Solidor adopted you, even now Lord Vayne counts you as one of them. My brother is no fit guardian, he is poison to everything he protects."

Ivalice smiled, a soft, almost gentle expression. "I loved my brother enough to leave his side. That I found another love was a wondrous surprise, and one I wouldn't trade for the world. Larsa himself sealed our union. Please, Brother, the time for hatred is past." She reached her arms out to him. Behind her, Basch fairly held his breath, on a razor's edge of tension.

He was right to fear. In a frenzy of conflicting emotions, Gabranth struck out with his swords. He may have tried to strike his brother, or Lady Ashe, but the one who took the blow was Ivalice.

She fell back, her hand covering the wound in her side, right into Basch's arms. There was a shout of disbelief and Gabranth stared at her, stared at the blood that had begun to leak onto her clothing, stared at the weapon in his hand.

"No, no," he said, as if words alone could change the truth. "No, I never sought to harm you. Lady Ivalice, forgive me."

Basch merely knelt next to Ivalice as Reddas and the others faced down a stunned Gabranth. They barely noticed when Reddas declared that he had been Judge Zecht, who had led the attack on Nabudis, tricked by Cid into using the Midlight Shard to create such distruction. He had abandoned his name and the Judge's plate that very night.

_Are you going to be able to heal yourself?_ Basch was terribly worried.

Ivalice was pale, too pale, but she nodded quickly. _Yes, and our child is fine, but I dare not loose too much blood or that could change. And healing this is going to make saving Cid that much more difficult. Here he comes now._

Basch looked up and saw that she was right, Cid had entered through the balcony that Gabranth had used. He looked around at the room and shook his head at Gabranth. "For shame, Judge Gabranth," he made the title sound like an insult, "you have forsworn yourself, and the trust of Lord Vayne and Lord Larsa. Lord Vayne wished for his sister, and her unborn child, to be delivered to him safely. House Solidor is not so numerous that even one can afford to be lost." Ivalice snarled at Cid, the walking incarnation of all that she feared, but she remained silent and concentrated on healing the wound that she had taken.

Still stunned, Gabranth did not resist the blow that threw him into a column in the tower chamber. He deserved it. He deserved all the pain and the shame and the horror. He stood and fled.

Cid then addressed Ashe, saying that they were allies against the Occuria. But Cid had it wrong. They didn't just wish freedom from the Occuria. They wished freedom from all nethicite.

Cid triggered something in the crystal just as the fight joined.

---

Cid fell, defeated, and the companions gained another Esper, Famfrit. Ivalice staggered to her feet as Balthier ran to his father, and found his way blocked by Venat.

It took less time to think about what she was doing than to do it. Ivalice, one hand still on her side, teleported behind Venat. The wound was closed, but it wasn't completely healed yet. She threw her free arm around Cid and glared at Venat, who turned to look at her in surprise. "Begone!" Ivalice commanded, and everyone felt the flare of power that came from her. "Begone from here, unclean spirit!"

Venat vanished.

Cid cried out in surprise, but then his legs lost their strength as Ivalice placed her hand to his face and gently lowered both of them to the floor, focusing her energy on healing the damage that had been done to him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, frantic.

"Keeping a promise to a friend, Cid. Your son would rather not have to say goodbye to you just yet."

Balthier knelt next to both of them, his eyes full of worry. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked Ivalice.

She nodded, her face pale and pinched with concentration. "Yeah, but this is infinitely more difficult with my side the way it is."

"But Venat!" Cid cried.

"Probably thinks you're already dead. In any event she can't come near you again, so she'll probably never know the difference."

The Sun-Cryst was swirling with a thick Mist and everyone heard Fran collapse. Balthier ran over to her. She tried to smile. Told him to fly, wasn't that what sky pirates did?

He smiled at her. She had better hang on, then.

Cid saw them and his arm reached out to them. "Fran?" It was like he hadn't seen her with them before.

Vaan and Ashe tried to fight the winds around the Sun-Cryst to strike it with the Sword of Kings when Reddas took the sword from Ashe's hands. He was looking for a place to die anyway, and it was his mission to destroy nethicite.

Ivalice sighed loudly at them all. "Come on, guys, we gotta get going, and now!" She struggled to her feet and helped Cid up as well. Cid stumbled over to where Balthier was lifting Fran in his arms.

Reddas looked at her. "Fly, Lady Ivalice, and know that I was proud to be the one to shelter you and give you wings."

"You would leave my brother without any Judges at all? In his grief and guilt, Gabranth may still give his life to save us all from Vayne and I don't trust Zargabaath as far as I could throw him. The Empire needs you, Zecht Reddas, will you turn your back on her?"

He looked conflicted, glancing from her to the stone that was quickly reaching critical mass.

"Look, I can toss that sword into that stone without ever being in blast range. You throw it, I'll push it, and then, in the words of the greatest wizard ever known, 'Fly, you fools'!"

He hesitated only a bare second more and then threw the sword towards the stone, running for the balcony and the Strahl below. The sword hung in the air until everyone was gone and then Ivalice gave it a telekinetic push, sending it deep into the heart of the stone. Then she, too, was gone, as the stone exploded.

From the safety of the Strahl, they watched the explosion above. Ivalice appeared behind them and then collapsed, the wound in her side tearing back open slightly.

The flight back to Balfonheim was quiet.

* * *

Only one section left to go. grin

Okay, so I admit it. I played through the ending sequences yesterday morning. Believe me, it made writing the chapter above even more difficult than it already was because I had all of that running through my head and I didn't have an old save to re-watch some of the cutscenes before writing. sigh

I'm not sure I like the way the game ended. It was really, really, really bittersweet. And seeing Basch with his hair chopped off that short just twisted my stomach. That and he never really does get his name publicly cleared. He just steps into his brother's name and armor. Still, he's proven that he can live with shame for a greater good.

Ugh. A great many things are getting changed in my version. I'm warning you now. And as for the two Traveler stones that have not yet found use, . . . I've got plans for both of them. Strange isn't it? Three nethicite stones, three Traveler stones, and the Traveler ones still have power after all this is over.

Lemme know what you think of this segment. I live, as always, for reader responses.

Mrs. Grizzley


	16. Chapter 16

Final Fantasy XII: A Traveler in a Strange World

Chapter Sixteen

The man walked with the stalking gait of a hunter as he stepped into the forested chamber where he had imprisoned his prey years before. She should be quite small by this time, quite willing to see reason rather than reduce to infancy and death. Her power would be so beneficial in the service of his liege.

Though if she continued in stubbornness then he would just as easily prefer to be rid of one of the meddlesome Shards. Especially one linked directly to the power and will of the very Speaker who had cursed him.

He paused for a moment and tested the air with a few measured sniffs. The Motherborn Shard's scent was present, but it was old, long faded. It should be new . . . if she were still here.

With a growl of anger he sent his telepathic senses through the cavern and found the remains of her stay, the places where she had left her touch and where the forest had not reclaimed just yet, but he could not find her. There were strange scents, also long faded, human, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, male, and more than one, at least half a dozen.

He spat a curse. Someone had found a door into the prison and had taken the prisoner with them. From the age of the faint scents he would guess that she had been gone at least three years.

Wolf Eyes Dreamsail turned on his heel and followed the scent trail to the door which had been opened and to the world beyond it. He would recover the Shard and see that she was never freed again.

--

Zecht Reddas stayed in Balfonheim with Cid, more to keep Cid under guard than out of any other need. The scientist had been in a stunned, insenseless state ever since Ivalice had healed him, and no one wanted to risk him coming back to his senses and running off to accomplish some new madness.

Before they left, Ivalice took Reddas aside for a moment. "If it looks like things are going against us, I'll get Larsa to you. He'll be the last of House Solidor and we cannot allow the House to fail. The Empire would dissolve in civil war and that would spell disaster for all of Ivalice. Will you take up the Judge's plate again for him?"

Slowly, Reddas nodded. "I had thought that my life ended for me years ago, Lady Ivalice. I sought only a place and a purpose for my death. This is . . . a difficult adjustment."

She smiled. "I never said it would be easy. I only said it would be worth it." Her words sounded like she was quoting someone, but he didn't know who that would be. He nodded his understanding.

The _Strahl_ flew towards Dalmasca, and what was rapidly becoming a battleground as Resistance forces met with the _Bahamut_ and their surrender was not accepted. Larsa looked at his brother from the bridge of the sky fortress and wondered how Vayne had changed so much so quickly. This was not the brother he adored. This was not the brother he had followed on the heels of for most of his life. This was . . . this was the brother that his sister had feared from the first moment that she had met him.

His sister. The thought brought another to mind and his hand reached into a pocket, felt the cool round shape of the stone that she had left for him. He might lack the strength to fight his brother. He might lack the wisdom to know innocent from sinister. But she . . . she had always known that this day would come. Surely she was prepared for what was happening. Surely she had strength that he did not.

He took a step back from his brother and pulled the stone from his pocket. "You may be right, Brother." Vayne looked at him in surprise. "I may not have the strength to give you the chastisement that you deserve, but I am not alone." The stone was set in his palm and he squeezed on it purposefully. "I have my sister with me wherever I go."

--

On the Strahl, Ashe was involved in a radio argument with Ondore about whether or not they would assist in the battle. Ivalice felt the call of the stone she had given Larsa and glanced at Basch. "That's my cue. I'll be right back with Larsa." He nodded to her and she vanished as Vaan started to reach for the radio.

--

Ivalice appeared on the bridge of the Bahamut right behind Larsa. She reached around and put her arm across his shoulders while pointing at Vayne with the other. "I warned you, Vayne. Threaten my brother and I will destroy you."

Vayne tried to talk to her. "Sister, the child you carry, all this is for the strength of House Solidor."

"You just don't get it, do you?" She looked at him incredulously. "I have ruled before. I know all about leadership and nobility and the strength of thrones because I have sat one before. In my Nameless days I took a throne to restore a land destroyed by such a war as you have begun, my brother. There are no winners here, there are only losers, and you will lose so much when we defeat you." She tightened her grip on Larsa. "We'll be back, I have promises to keep."

They vanished, leaving Vayne alone on the bridge.

--

They reappeared on the Strahl, just as Vaan used Larsa's voice to convince Ondore to let them pass, and to support their flight to the _Bahamut_. Larsa looked at Vaan with a curiously puzzled expression. "I have the Princess covered?"

Vaan grinned at him as Penelo jumped up to hug the young Princeling. "You'd say that."

Balthier and Fran led the charge to the sky fortress, weaving their way through opponents who wished to "dance". Even Ivalice was impressed by their ability to work as one. She reached a hand out to catch Basch's. Someday . . . someday they would be able to be closer than that. Her heart reached out with a thought and was met by his. He was her partner, but more than that, he was her Companion and he would be able to draw on power through her.

Larsa looked at them and smiled, catching his sister in a hug. But it was a smile that carried tears. He knew that his brother . . . might be beyond reason. And he still loved his brother.

They docked at the _Bahamut_ and Ivalice looked at Larsa. "You can stay here or I can send you some place else to wait this out. I don't want you in this fight."

Larsa straightened. "I'm going with you, Sister. This is my fight, too."

She tightened her lips in frustration. "I'm not going to let you get hurt going up against Vayne. I want you to stay out of this fight."

Larsa looked at her, but refused to back down. "I'm going with you to face our brother. This is as much my fight as it is yours."

Balthier smiled at her. "Better let the boy come along. He's growing up fast and he is right."

She glared at him. "Don't help, Balthier." She turned back to Larsa. "Alright, but you back off when I tell you to or I'll throw you to Zecht faster than you can blink."

Larsa nodded. He'd have to remember to ask her to explain about Zecht later. Wasn't he dead? He'd been missing for two years.

They ran all the way to the elevator that would take them to the bridge. But before they could start up, Gabranth appeared, and he was still furious at his brother, but now he was conflicted. Ivalice grabbed Larsa's arm and put him behind her. Gabranth about collapsed at her distrust. He deserved it.

"How?" he asked his brother, "how do you keep your honor? How do you keep fighting when you have lost everything?"

Basch reached a hand out to his brother, called him by his proper name, Noah, and Gabranth looked startled. He didn't feel he had the right to be called by that name any longer. Basch invited him to rediscover himself.

After a moment of hesitation, Ivalice hurried forward towards Gabranth. "Please, for Larsa. There is only one way for this to end and Larsa will need guardians if the Empire is not to fail. Help us."

"But I . . . I . . ." He couldn't even say it. He couldn't admit his crime, not in front of Lord Larsa.

Behind them, Ashe engaged the lift and they rose up to the bridge, and Vayne.

Vayne smiled at them as they entered. He had a question for Ashe, who was she? Was she Vengeance? or Reconciliation? Ashe's answer was beyond his understanding. She was simply herself, and all she ever wanted was to be free.

Vayne thought that she was weak, too weak to rule. He was so blind. Freedom takes a strength that he did not have.

Ivalice just about screamed at Larsa when he charged into the battle with the rest of them, against her instructions. But he was focused on his brother. When Vayne fell, though, her heart shattered to hear him call out, "Lord Brother!" _Nii-sama_. He sounded so much like she had. Why? Why did Sephiroth have to do what he did? Why did he force her hand, make her destroy him? Not just once, but twice?

But the fight wasn't over, she'd been through these things before, and she knew that the fight wasn't nearly over, but when she reached out to grab Larsa back, she was a touch too slow, and he collapsed as whatever changed Vayne hit him. She cried out and Basch barely pulled her back from getting caught in it as well.

Gabranth raised his head to see what the nethicite had made of his former lord, and knew what he had to do. He had to defend Larsa, he had to find the strength and supported his brother . . . and the woman who had bound herself to him. He had to endure his brother's life for the sake of the old Emperor, whose daughter had become his sister.

After all, even strays have pride.

They defeated Vayne again, but he was not yet done. His final stroke hit Gabranth, knocking him away. Ivalice rushed over to him, pulling the remains of the helmet off him as the others started to follow Vayne out onto a balcony. Basch looked at her where he knelt on his brother's other side. "Can you . . . ?" He was not sure if he could even ask the question.

She clenched her hands in frustration. "I don't know. Vayne's not down yet. I'm just so . . . so tired already." She placed her hands on Gabranth's face and started to focus her remaining energies. "Take down Vayne for me, and be sure to tell him . . . tell him that Cid lives."

Basch nodded and stood, his heart sending her the wish that he could spare the time to kiss her. Then he rejoined the rest of the group as Larsa woke and crawled over to where Ivalice knelt next to Gabranth.

Vayne had joined energies with Venat, and had pulled pieces from the _Bahamut_ itself to become a strangely metal/organic shape that looked almost like a multi-winged dragon. Basch made a note to himself. So that was the dragon Bahamut that Ivalice had mentioned. Looking at the creature who was once a man, Basch found different aspects of Vayne's newest incarnation intriguing. On one hand he noted the monstrous quality, the other the technological. It was strange, the way the two created a strangely compelling whole.

He shouted out to Vayne. "My lady bid me tell you, Doctor Cid lives! Her power saved him; her power banished your familiar spirit from him! And her power flows through me!" It was true. In some strange way, her power flowed through him and made him stronger, faster, more sure of himself in a way that even the strength of youth had never done.

He raised his sword alongside his friends to defeat Vayne a third and final time.

They fled the _Bahamut_, Basch carrying his brother, and Larsa helping his sister stay on her feet, she was so tired. Gabranth was not yet saved, and her energies were so depleted. They got to the _Strahl_ and Basch placed his brother on a bench while Ivalice knelt to catch her breath and try to gather enough energy to heal him.

But they couldn't get the _Strahl_ moving. No energy was flowing to the ship. Balthier and Fran stood and started to leave. Vaan was to take off as soon as they got energy. Penelo was to help him. Ivalice looked up at Balthier as they hurried away. "Be careful!"

He saluted her briefly. "You focus on your fight and I'll be the heroic leading man. Don't worry."

She sighed and the pirate was gone. She turned back to Gabranth and put her hands back on his face, preparing what energies she had left.

Gabranth reached up and pulled her hands away from him, holding them in his. "Don't."

"I have to." She was so tired, tears started to leak out of the corners of her eyes. She always got weepy with exhaustion.

"Let me die. Guard Larsa. The fate of the Empire lies with him." It hurt to breathe.

Energy flooded back into the _Strahl_ and Vaan took off as he'd been told. Basch knelt next to Ivalice and put his arms around her shoulders. Larsa knelt on the other side and reached out to take her hands from Gabranth.

Gabranth looked at Basch. "House Solidor must not fail, my brother."

Basch nodded his understanding. "I swear to you, House Solidor will not fail. Lord Larsa will have guardians to stand watch over him, myself among them."

Ivalice cried for Gabranth as he breathed his last.

The war was not yet over. Basch stood and took the radio, and broadcast in his brother's voice, and under his brother's name, the signing of a treaty with Lady Ashelia B'Nargin Dalmasca. Larsa received the radio from him and added his voice to the announcement that the war was over.

But the dying wasn't yet.

The _Bahamut_ was without power, and was falling towards the city of Rabanastre. The collapse would destroy the paling that protected it, and would kill everyone within her walls. Zargabaath on the _Alexander_ proposed pushing the _Bahamut_ to the side using his own ship, and that all firepower must be directed towards him to be certain that they were far enough away.

Pure fury was all that pushed Ivalice to her feet as she grabbed the radio. "Damnitall, Zargabaath, you would leave my brother without yet another Judge?? How many does he have to lose before you start realizing that your lives are important to him, not your deaths?"

"Lady Ivalice??" He was actually surprised to hear her voice. Somehow, that made her like him a touch more. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. They hadn't had to kill him, that was for certain.

Just then the radio conversation was interrupted by another voice, a welcome one. Balthier was still on the Bahamut, and was doing his best to restore energy to the rings that supported it. He would greatly appreciate not being rammed by the _Alexander_.

Ashe took the radio from Ivalice, pleading with Balthier not to get killed. Ivalice felt her heart sink. That was an admission of preference. She could hear it clearly. "Aww, damn!" Everyone looked at her and she took the radio away from Ashe for a moment. "You have to survive, Pirate, the choice has been made. I am honor-bound."

She handed the radio back as she thought she heard Balthier laugh. "I'm the leading man, and leading men never die." Then the radio went silent.

--

Balthier finally got power back to the _Bahamut_, enough, at least, for them to float away from the city before the giant tower fell into the Dalmascan desert. The ship was falling apart around them, even Fran got hit with a falling piece of debris and Balthier lifted her in his arms, joking about having to do everything himself.

He still, though, had one treasure he had saved all this time. He reached into a pocket and fished out a stone, pressing it lightly with his thumb and concentrating on finding a way out. He wasn't expecting to feel the sudden arrival of another person right behind him. "Huh?"

"I can do you one better than that, Pirate, would you like out of here?" Hallie grinned at him and abruptly they were back on the _Strahl_.

Basch helped him with Fran as Ashe fairly knocked him over to embrace him. Vaan looked over his shoulder. "You want this?"

Balthier shook his head. "Looks like you are doing well enough for the moment. I'll get her back from you later."

Hallie looked at Ivalice. "Ne-sama? Are you alright?" That got everyone's attention.

Ivalice nodded slowly. "I'm just . . . so tired."

Hallie sighed. "You're straining yourself again, Ne-sama. You don't want to relapse so soon after everything that has happened."

Basch took Ivalice in his arms. "Lord Larsa will need us both, Ivalice."

The _Strahl_ flew into Rabanastre with hope carried inside her shell.

--

Wolf Eyes found his wayward prisoner and narrowed his eyes in consideration. She wasn't alone. There was another of those Mothertouched Travelers with her, his young half-sister by blood, in fact, Destiny Dreamsail. If he could capture both of them then he could do a great deal of damage to their Speaker's ability to wreck his master's plans.

He quickly discarded the thought. The Shard was still weak, even if she **had** managed to unseal her gifts. And she was hurt, injured, and would be more easily captured if he could get her away from the others. Destiny was still strong and trying to take her would weaken him, perhaps to the point that aid could arrive.

A strange scent teased him and his eyes flashed open in surprise. The Shard was pregnant, and carrying an exceptionally powerful child, one sired by none other than the warrior who held her so tenderly on the flying vessel as they traveled to the nearby city.

This could not be allowed to continue. If the Shard managed to reawaken her Cloak-status she would be unstoppably powerful, more so if she had gained the balancing force of a Companion. He had to retake her soon and he had to punish her sufficiently for even dreaming of freedom.

The thought brought a smile to his lips. Ahh, a dream. That would be so appropriate. And he had just the means to bring it about, since the very young were so easily corrupted. After all, power is neither good nor evil, those are designations given to how it is used, not the use itself.

--

A golden-eyed girl with white-streaked hair awoke inside a paradise of a cavern and set up in the den she had dug out in the roots of a large tree. She looked around her in confusion for a moment and then screamed in grief. Had it really all been nothing more than a dream? One more dream to torment her as she slowly lost years in this deathtrap?

She curled in on herself in sudden pain as her whole body shook. She knew, somehow, that she had lost something very precious, but she couldn't remember what it was.

--

Lord Larsa, last scion of House Solidor, woke from a most spectacular dream and for a moment he could only gasp as strange emotions filled his heart. A sister. He had dreamed that he had a sister. But he had never had a sister. The dream had been at once familiar and strange.

He turned his head to look out the window across from the bed and his eyes fell upon a smooth, round, grey stone sitting upon the table at his bedside. It had not been there the night before when he had gone to sleep, of that he was certain.

He sat up and took the stone in his hand, turning it over and over in his fingers. He had been given just such a stone by his sister . . . in the dream. Was it possible for dreams to become real? Or for what is real to become a dream?

Larsa found his guardian, Basch, in the gardens outside his chambers. Basch wore the armor of his fallen brother, Gabranth, and had even taken up his name in the interest of protecting House Solidor, now winnowed down to only Larsa. Basch looked so strange with his hair cut short as his brother's had been.

"Judge, have you . . . have you ever dreamed of a girl with golden eyes?"

Basch let his surprise show in only the sudden stillness of his expression. "May I ask what brings on this question, Lord Larsa?"

Larsa sighed. "I dreamed again last night of a girl with golden eyes. She was my sister, and . . . and she loved you. At least, I think it was you. It was someone very much like you."

Basch sighed. He owed the young Emperor all his honesty, however painful he found it. "Yes, Lord Larsa, I have dreamed of a girl with golden eyes, and I dreamed that I loved her. She was always my friend and she loved me too. But she was only a dream." It was what he kept telling himself, at least, to keep at bay the maddening need to find her again, the nagging feeling that she was out there somewhere.

Larsa held out the stone he had found, letting Basch see it sitting on the palm of his hand. "Can dreams become real?"

Basch felt his heart stop for a moment as he looked at the stone. Larsa asked a very good question, one that neither of them could answer.

* * *

Sometimes things just don't work out the way you, as a writer, want them to. I didn't like the ending on this, and I still have some problems with it. I changed it once and now I've changed it again and I hope I managed to get it right, or at least less wrong.

I dropped the ball on the ending, and I shouldn't have done that. I went for a cheese-whiz ending that was just a dissapointment all around. This one, though, is a bit more satisfying as it's quite a bit darker and it leads into the situations that are developing in the upcoming sequel. I have some thoughts for that one, but I'm going to wait until I get most of a full draft written out before posting anything so that I have some continuity to it.

Then again, if there is any interest, I might put it out as it's becomes available and just rely on edits to correct some of the glaring mistakes that are going to happen, as has been the case for this disasterous ending. I hope that it's not quite so disasterous anymore.

Mrs. Grizzley


	17. Chapter 17

A Traveler in a Strange World: Final Fantasy XII

Epilogue/ Segway

Matters in the Imperial Palace in Archades were quickly becoming more than Basch could handle.

He had taken his brother's armor and his brother's voice at need and taken up his brother's duty to protect the last of the Solidor line, the young Emperor Larsa. He had even given up his name to shoulder his duty. The name of Basch fon Ronsenberg was still synonymous with treason, one he had never committed and of which he had never been exonerated. To the people of Archades he was the Judge Magister Gabranth, as his brother Noah had been before him.

But his duty and his loyalty was being severely tested because the young Larsa . . . was not well.

Zargabaath, the other remaining Judge Magister after the chaos of the war Larsa's brother, the late Vayne Solidor, had fomented, caught Basch in the hallways of the Palace for a murmured conversation. "Surely you are not blind to matters, Gabranth."

Basch shook his head. "You speak troublesome words, Zargabaath."

"Troublesome they may be, but they are not false. The boy has not let the stone leave his hand since it appeared. House Solidor, and the Empire with it, stands on too thin a precipice as it is following the obsessions of his brother and the treasons of the ones before him. Something must be done lest the boy follow his brothers."

Basch shook his head again, more forcefully. "Lord Larsa is not like his brothers before him."

"Then why in the gods' names does he continue to speak of this sister who never was?"

Basch turned away from Zargabaath. "I will speak no more of this."

Zargabaath took a deep breath. "Very well, but remember, Gabranth. He is the last of House Solidor. If he falls, so does the Empire." Then he turned and left, continuing down the hallway on his errand.

After a moment, so did Basch, going to the garden where the young Emperor Larsa sat on a stone bench, a round, flat, smooth grey stone sitting on the palm of his hand. The stone was a good size, almost the same size as the boy's palm. Larsa sat looking down at the stone. He didn't look up at Basch, but they both knew that he was aware of the Judge Magister's entrance.

"They think that I am going mad, do they not, Basch?"

Basch sighed and tried not to look at the stone in his Emperor's hand. "There is concern, Lord Larsa."

The boy looked up at him, his dark eyes sincere and tear-filled. "She is real, Basch, I know she is. I dreamed of her again last night. She has to be real and I have to find her." He swallowed carefully. "She is my sister."

Basch knelt next to the boy and carefully closed his fingers around the stone. "Whether she is real or not I do not know, Lord Larsa, but you cannot keep pining for a dream. The Empire depends upon you."

The tears began to fall, then. "You remember her, too, do you not? You dreamed of her too."

Basch remembered the dreams he had of the mysterious girl with golden eyes. "Our friendship lives in my dreams, yes. I do not hope to find it anywhere else."

Larsa sighed. "I have to hope, Basch. As long as I hope, then I am not alone."

Basch could give no response. No matter their hopes, they were alone in fact. Ivalice Goldeneyes Solidor was simply a dream . . . one who had left an all-too-real stone behind that tingled in Larsa's hand with untapped power.

* * *

Yes, there is going to be a sequel. I don't have a title yet, and I'm not certain just who all is going to be involved since alot of things have been rewritten and rearranged in the time that has elapsed since I brought the fanfic to a close. I have not played FF XII since I paused in rewriting Chapter Five, I think it was, but that doesn't mean that I have abandoned plans to revise this whole piece to include more of the actual game dialogue and provide more depth and detail.

Original fiction, though, has captured my attention like you wouldn't believe, as well as a brief revival of my delight in FF X/ X-2 and VII and even a foray into Legend of Mana. I have not been writing as much as I would like, and for that I apologize.

I am willing to take suggestions on where to go with the sequel to Traveler: FF XII, though. I have a few ideas since I know approximately what is in store for Goldeneyes, but I could use anything to catalyze an actual story. I haven't the foggiest idea what would bring her and her current friends/ compatriots into the world of Ivalice.

Thank you for your time and attention and I hope to continue the revisions to the story at some point soon.

Mrs. Grizzley


End file.
